Its true that none of us go into teaching for the pay. But what
about the people who don't go into teaching. Could pay be a factor for
them? This issue really bugs me because I run into people who don't
believe teachers are underpaid or who feel that the pay should remain
low for teachers so that only "dedicated" people will teach. Hogwash!!
If teachers were paid competitively we would have a larger, more
qualified pool of people to draw from. Period.
Robert, you are right when you say that socialization and
discrimination are major factors. Men are socialized to follow the
money and discriminated against if they don't. I know that I was
shunned by my peers in my computer science program when I told them I
was going into teaching even though I was among the top students. (I was
the only one in a cohort of 60, 55 males and 5 females). My peers
thought I was crazy to turn down the money that McDonald-Douglass,
Boeing, IBM, Microsoft, and the military were offering for computer
science majors in my field (artificial intelligence). My starting
salary was less than half what they got.
One thing I do know. If teachers don't ask for more money, they
sure aren't going to get it.
Peace, Bob
McIntosR@nwrel.org
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chris Nelson [SMTP:cnelson@8j.net]
> Sent: Friday, May 15, 1998 3:25 PM
> To: edequity@tristram.edc.org
> Subject: Re: Educational brainstorming
>
> You're right, none of us go into teaching for the pay. If we went
> into teaching for the money we would all be seriously dissappointed.
> Secondary and elementary teachers are generally on the same salary
> schedule. I would suspect that the younger children are perceived as
> needing a more nurturing type of teacher than one might find at the
> secondary level. The opportunity to excel in a particular field at
> the
> secondary level is also likely to attract more male candidates...
> particularly if they coach. Haven't we come a long way?
>
> cnelson@8j.net
>
>