<p>We live in a town where teachers make, on average, over 85,000 per year (and don't work summers) and I wouldn't hire 95 percent of them to walk a postal route. biggreen</p>
<p>Your assertion that the average New Jersey teacher makes $85,000 a year is downright false. I teach in the third largest school district in California that pays competitive salaries, and the cost of living in Southern California is extremely high, so your numbers were hard to believe. Therefore, I looked at several New Jersey school district contracts online, and as I expected, the salaries are somewhat similar to urban districts across the nation. The 2005-2006 salary schedules for beginning teachers across New Jersey start around $40K. At the end of a New Jersey teachers career, say three to five years before retirement, if they have a Masters degree in Clifton, New Jersey, they will be earning (I copied this from their current contract):</p>
<p>2005-2006
$81,000 </p>
<p>Holders of an earned Doctor's degree from an accredited college or university recognized according to Article XX, B, in their area of certification or reasonably related to their teaching duties shall receive annual stipend of $4,000.00 added to their salary guide placement</p>
<p>Get your facts straight before you malign teachers.</p>
<p>I am pasting a common teacher's salary from the burbs of chicago.
I will block out only the name.
Like I said..it took google 5 seconds to find the site "the champion".
This is a teacher that teaches a "c" level class and spends 90 % of his class time in the library so the librarians can teach his classes how to write their junior essays (he reads the paper)....also on the civil war.</p>
<p>Year: 2005
Employee Name: XXXXXX XXXXX
Employee Salary: $86,389
Time: Full Time
Months: 10
Percent: 100%
Employment Type: Teacher
Experience: 17 years
Position: High School Teacher
Assignment: English
Degree: Master's
Grades: 09 - 12
District: OAK PARK & RIVER FOREST DIST 200 </p>
<p>Also my FIL is retired from the Chicago public schools (building engineer)
His retirement check is 4000 per month from the state of Illinois.
And why is someone posting a median list from 2000? That was 5 2/12s years ago.
I agree it is what the student wants to happen is what they get from their education.
MY DD also had to work hard. Some bad middle school teacher low balled her into a basic algebra class freshman year..his excuse "I don't think any of my student are good enough for the advanced" My retort is "Why? I guess YOU failed them then!"</p>
<p>The State of Illinois School Report Card for 2004:</p>
<p>Illinois State Average Teacher Salary: $55,558</p>
<p>Illinois State Average Teaching Experience: 13.6 years</p>
<p>Illinois State Average Administrator Salary: $97,051 (FTE 12-month)</p>
<p>These figures were obtained from state documents available online. How do you explain the discrepancy between the official figures that the state provides to the public and your inflated numbers? Hey, does that secondary teacher get to hang out in the library all year? This is such an isolated example. When I take my students to the library, I'm running around like the Energizer Bunny! Of course, that's after we practice how to line up and walk in an orderly manner to the library.
Moreover, I think being an administrator is a thankless job considering it's practically 24/7 and the pay doesn't match the level of responsibility.
Changing the subject slightly, one of our high school assistant principals is an officer in the Marine Reserve and he just returned from deployment in Iraq. I'm pleased to say that my school district compensates employees for lost wages if they are active duty. I think all middle school/high school administrators could benefit from combat duty tours! ;)
Come to think of it, that's kind of sad that many American secondary schools are so violent.</p>
<p>Illinois is a very diverse state. We have Chicago, the normal suburbs, the affluent suburbs, and downstate. Much of downstate is rural or small town. Needless to say the teachers in those towns do not receive anywhere near the dollars paid to the teachers in the more affluent suburbs. The average salary in our high school district this year is $77,853. The average administrator salary is $154,790.</p>
<p>I don't know how to say this nicely. The military is rough. Teaching is rough. So are lots of jobs. You make your choices, You learn to live with it. It should not be a surprise that the military does not pay the greatest and you may be killed. Teaching kids is not easy, you are not paid the greatest, but you make a difference - as do those serving in the military. Most folks in those fields say they do it to serve their country or they love teaching kids - Not that they want to be a millionaire. Don't do these jobs if you want to be rich; only if you want to make a difference and you love doing it. Come on folks, get real. There are major problems in any job; get over it or get out. We want our kids to do well, do something they like to do and are good at. It's their life; live your own the best you can.</p>
<p>Good idea, shogun. Here are some possible topics.</p>
<p>Women in the military (sure hope we don't get this one going again)
Boots (bound to come up several more times before the end of June)
What to pack for R-Day (no, nobody will be kicked out for bringing extra socks or sock liners)
Where is Jamzmom? (eating chocolate and barbecue) ;)
Lawyers are people, too (that's for Bill's sake)
What do I do with all those cards? (read the instruction book)
DUI's (nothing much to discuss - don't drink and drive, kids)</p>
<p>On another note, I bought "The Killer Angels" and will start reading it as soon as I log off.</p>