Hedgie, you are a moron. I love this board for what it is and typically stay our of these types of threads but this one has me on so many levels (Disclaimer before you accuse me - I am NOT a teacher):
First of all, you want to argue the comment that the average teacher's salary in the Chicago Public School System is $70k/year (I won't even get into the poor math you used to try and figure out an equivalent for a "typical annual salary."). What you first must realize is that this is an AVERAGE! It's an average across 29,000 teachers. The maximum salary of a teacher in the CPS with 20+ years and a Doctorate degree is $88,680. I would bet that in over 90% of "educated professions," you have the ability to make much more than $88.6k/year at your highest level. I would also hope that in any established school district, most of the teachers would be past the median point in experience (i.e. more teachers with say 15-20 years of experience than those with 0-5 years of experience).
Secondly, you continue to claim that teachers only work 9 months out of the year and should only be paid for 9 months of work. Judging by your rationale, logic, math skills, grammer skills, etc., I don't think you spent much time "gitin' yer edukashun." What I'd like you to be aware of is that teachers during the school year show up before school, stay after school, check papers long into the evening, show up for school events when they have other things to do, answer emails from parents, hold conferences whenever asked by parents, etc. If you think for one minute that any teacher works a 40-hour work week during those 9 months, you're sorely mistaken.
Third, do you realize that part of the "agreements" between school boards and teachers is that they have to continue their education? In most states, you have to continue to get college-level course education for as long as you maintain your license. Most "average" teachers have at least one Masters degree after they've been teaching for a few years. Some have multiple like your mom. Who do you think pays for this education? That's right Hedgie, the teachers pay for their own education! Even courses through a cheaper extension facility can run your bill into the tens of thousands for your first Masters Degree. But, it doesn't stop there. It's an expense that keeps on coming back.
Speaking of expenses, do you realize how much of teachers OWN money goes back into the classroom? $1.33B (yes, billion) were spent by teachers in the U.S. in 2010 on their own classroom. This equates to $356/teacher/year.
Next, your taxes. Do you even think that all $6,700 goes straight to the teachers??? Ever hear of police, fire, libraries, local government infrastructure, etc.? Shit Hedge, are you the same guy that blows $350 on your ex-girlfriends kids for a birthday or $1,000s in a night for strippers? If teachers danced around a pole for you 6.7 times a year would they be worth it then?
The 2011 Bureau of Labor Statistics listed the following AVERAGE salaries by job type:
Ad/Promo Manager - $103k
Marketing Managers - $126k
Sales Managers - $117k
PR Managers - $106k
Financial Managers - $120k
**Average Teacher Salary (not CPS) - $56k
Don't you find it ironic that we as a nation find it ok to pay the people that fill our mind with worthless garbage whatever they want and bitch and complain about people that are expected to mold and shape our children for the future? This is sickening to me.
If you still find this ok to deal with, consider that a loan officer ($67.9k) and a landscape architect ($66.5k) are just an extremely small sample of two professions where you don't need a college degree but can average more in salary than the average teacher.
Hedge, I am a fiscal conservative by nature so I'm not attacking you from what you would call the "Liberal Left." This shit is common sense and you are on the wrong side of the equation. If your mom could see the shit you spew around here, I'm sure she'd be disappointed in the way she raised you.
But yeah, go on and keep defending the rich, brother. It's perfectly ok for white-collar CEO-types to accept your tax dollars while the government bails them out. By all means they deserve that pay. Teachers on the other hand...
I'll close by reiterating my first point. Hedgie, you are a moron.
