A Bunch of Do-Nothings

from "think tanks" "think" teachers are paid "too much." As always, these bastards have no fucking clue what they are talking about. Most of the comments following this article blast the Heritage Foundation's and AEI's lies.

If teachers were really pulling in the big bucks, why do so many of them leave the profession long before retirement? If they were making big bucks, why are so many prevented from doing so by asshole principals when they boot them out when teachers are past 50? If teachers are so overpaid, why do they take second and third jobs?

The reason private school teachers make less is because these teachers don't have to be credentialed. Most credentialed teachers in private schools are there because they can't get jobs in the public sector. Given how bad the work environment is in public schools in general, they are probably lucky even if they average only about $20,000 or $25,000 a year in salary.

Few if any jobs are as demanding as teaching, and few "professions" exist which do not give their employees latitude in their jobs as teaching. Teachers have little or no say over the conditions of their jobs--they are completely under the thumbs of their principals--who ARE overpaid for what little they do and are not the "best and brightest" in education, generally speaking. But they have unconscionable power over them.

The main reason teaching is low paid is because it is considered "women's work." Women, it has been believed over the decades, don't need to make family wages because they are supported by husbands.

Of course this isn't the reality of people who work in the field, but that is the mentality behind the pay. Teachers will NEVER see high pay in this field because public education salaries are tied to taxation, and taxpayers are loath to pay higher taxes.

By the way, AEI and HF are lying about "I.Q." They are looking at SAT and ACT scores, which measure ONLY preparation for college--NOT ability or I.Q.--as determinants of I.Q. This is a vicious and outrageous lie.