As a daughter of an elementary school teacher, I have seen the countless hours and many tears that go into working in the education system. I also see how vastly underappreciated and underpaid teachers are. My mother invests so much of herself in her kids every year and while they show her great amounts of love, she and her colleagues do not receive the same from the rest of the community.
During my first year of college, I have heard many students degrade the value of an education major because all they are looking at is the price tag that comes along with it. A teacher’s salary is nowhere near an accurate reflection of how important their role is in society. People forget the tremendous impact teachers all around the world have on their students and the role their own teachers have had in their lives. It is frustrating to hear young adults already forming a stigma about careers in education based solely on numbers when there is so much more to what they do.
Compared to others in the labor force with the same level of college education, public school teachers are paid 17 percent less based on weekly wages. Many people argue that this isn’t a problem because teachers all over the U.S. are able to provide for themselves and their families off their salaries. Just because they can sustain themselves under the means they are in does not mean that they should have to suffer a near 20 percent deficit in income. Not only do teachers not make nearly as much as their equals in other fields but they are also experiencing cuts in state education budgets. Teachers are molding the lives of children everywhere yet their state governments still fail to appropriately recognize their efforts.
In Missouri specifically, there is a great amount of neglect when it comes to the education system. While many politicians put a strong emphasis on education in their campaigns, the outcome, once they are in office, doesn’t always reflect that. Governor Eric Greitens took it upon himself to appoint five new members to the Missouri Board of Education in an effort to remove the state’s highest education official, Margie Vandeven. This action showed teachers and administrators around the state that the governor is more concerned with his own agenda rather than what is best for students and teacher alike. Teacher unions are formed in many states due to issues such as this and unfair salaries.
Not only do teacher’s dedicate so much of their time to their jobs but they are truly invested in the success and growth of their students. Working directly with children of all ages to prepare them for the rest of their lives is one of the most important and respectable jobs out there in my opinion. Growing up on a teacher’s salary and having to be money conscious from a young age has been a maturing experience but not one I think my mom and all other teacher deserve to deal with. Being surrounded by so many inspiring teachers all my life, I see the passion they have for what they do in everything they do. They have dedicated their life’s work to changing the lives of students. In return, they are awarded self-serving government officials and paychecks that are way below their pay grade.
Many teachers tend to go far out of their way to help a struggling student, whether it be academically or personally. My mom has had so many students leave her classroom at the end of the year so much happier and better prepared for the years to come than when they began. I have left so many classrooms happier, inspired, and more confident than when I entered them all thanks to teachers. Society has created a standard that our paychecks determine our worth and value in the community. Teacher’s of all kinds should not have to keep forming unions and going on strike to demand what they have always deserved. They are one of the world’s greatest gift and they should be treated as so.
