Not sure who is paying attention to this, but it's tough to watch what some of these teachers have to do just to make ends meet. Many work multiple jobs. The salaries they have talked about our incomprehensibly low to me...often just above the poverty line.
OK ranks 49th in teacher pay, but it's not like it's that great in most states.
What does it say about America that we put such a low priority on compensating this profession? I actually can't think of too many professions that I would consider to be more important. It makes no sense, and is a poor investment in our future.
Dostoyevsky said you can judge the civilization of a society by looking into its prisons...but I think that can be amended to add a society can be judged on how it values it's teachers.
I do not think respect for teachers in the United States is very high. The lack of respect obviously translates to some degree to salary. Not many people encourage their kids to be teachers. I actually cannot think of any adult I know who actively talks up teaching and encourage their kids to pursue it.
Conservative dogma attacks public education year in and year out, decade after decade. I know over the years there have been discussions on the board in which the rightwing in particular, held public education and teachers in low esteem.
We live in a materialistic society that places enormous value on status, wealth, and the trappings of power. The pursuit of money and profit are often held to be the pinnacle of human achievement. Look at Trump - a lifetime pursuing money, prestige, wealth, and materialism. Does he seem like the type of guy that would hold teachers in high esteem?
I have a niece who loves being a teacher, but is thinking about getting out of it because it is almost impossible the make ends meet. I do not think it speaks well to our society that a prison guard or a Pentagon contractor could make a reasonably comfortable living, while a lot of teachers can't. I do not think super-charged, self-interested capitalism of the kind that exists in this country is completely to blame. But the lack of respect for teaching as a career and teachers in particular has to have at least something to do with how this country worships the kind of super-charged materialism, profiteering, and militarism seen on Wall Street, the Pentagon, and throughout the bastions of the existing economic hierarchy of this society.