So Much for It Being a "Profession"

One should not have to go to school for years on end and wind up working for poverty salaries.  Oh, I know, teaching is a "calling," a "mission," and to hell with paying teachers professional salaries.  That's because it is female-dominated, and female teachers especially put up with a lot of shit to be able to work with kids. Their opinions aren't valued by politicians and reformers because the field is female-dominated.

However, there are bills to be paid, families to support.  No way can a teacher even in this economy can make enough to even buy a house unless married.  I never could in Nevada; housing in the lower-income area where I lived was priced in the 300k range before the economy tanked and I was fired by a no-good, incompetent piece of shit.

Anyway, here is an article about somebody who cannot survive as a teacher:

I am a teacher, and I am the new face of the working semi-poor. We live from month to month, from paycheck to paycheck. It doesn't matter how hard I work, what new ideas I present to my students, what classes I offer for enrichment or how thoroughly I prepare my students: I am paid a salary, divided by 12 months -- no less, no more. "You're lucky to have a job!" "Teaching is a vocation!" "Think of the impact you have on the future!" These public arguments, like all fallacies, contain some meager germs of truth. My job is one of importance, philosophically. Not economically. Financially, teachers are unimportant. Monetarily inconsequential. Our great nation does not esteem teaching, learning or education.

Yep, and it is getting much, much worse.