Chapter 6: Prioritizing Teacher Wages on a National Scale

Taylor Mali’s (2002) poem begins with a question: “What’s a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?” What a question! Pregnant with the context that one almost doesn’t have to explain, this question broadcasts the paradox of the teaching profession. What is wrong with wanting to become a teacher? The common saying, “Those who can’t, teach,” often reflects the idea that choosing to teach means one has tried and failed at other respected and lucrative careers, making teaching a last resort; a calling for the incompetent. Aside from the fact that, if this statement were true, then there is lunacy in sending children to be taught by failures, it also causes one to wonder why teaching is held in such low regard. The most common reason for teacher strikes is pay; salaries and compensation are the way the world ascribes value or worth to what a person does, so what does it say about teachers when the most accepted fact is that it is a low paying profession that lacks the respect of society (García & Weiss, 2019)? Furthermore, for the many who view teaching as a calling, is that the same as making a vow of poverty? Many people fail to understand why teachers would demand more money, expecting that teachers should be satisfied with educating future doctors, lawyers, and entrepreneurs, even if they can only dream of the lifestyle they made possible for others.