EIP Project

Christian Arendt

Teaching is one the most important careers out there. Without teachers we would not have
doctors, lawyers, or any other career for that matter. Teachers take young minds and fill them
with knowledge about the world and all that has happened in it. They produce students that turn
into productive and educated members of society. Unfortunately, even though all of these things
are true, the teaching profession remains one of the most underpaid and underappreciated. As the
years go on, more and more people decide against becoming teachers. We see more teachers
leaving the education profession and moving onto other jobs that come with higher pay and more
respect. This leaves students with a lower quality of teacher, which impacts their learning. What
happened to cause teachers to be in the current state that theyre in and what is happening
because of the way they are treated in our society?
Teachers have been around for as long as anyone can remember. Where there is life, there
is a need and desire for education. The first documented teachers were men. These men were
often farmers that taught in their offseason or young guys that were using teaching as a
steppingstone to another more prestigious career (Teaching Timeline). Eventually, the guys
started flocking to these other careers at a quicker rate which resulted in a lack of teachers. The
public had to be convinced that women could take over the job. In 1849, a representative from
the Littleton School Committee suggested that it was very poor policy to pay a man 20 or 22
dollars a month, for teaching children the ABCs, when a female could do the work more
successfully at one third of the price (Teaching Timeline). The introduction of female teachers
led to the introduction of new rules. Female teachers had strict lifestyle guidelines that they had
to abide by, such as not being allowed to leave home from 8 pm to 6 am. These female teachers
were not allowed to leave city limits without permission, date, marry, smoke, dye their hair, or
even ride in a buggy with a male other than their brother or father. They also dealt with male

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Christian Arendt

administration constantly coming in and telling them what they needed to change about their
teaching. Despite their low pay and ridiculous guidelines, these women felt as if they were
helping their students and becoming more independent. Today, 84% of teachers are female.
These teachers are still asked to maintain a professional lifestyle, both in and out of the
classroom. K-12 teachers can be fired for posting a picture drinking alcohol on social media, Ive
seen it happen. In addition, we still see the majority of school boards being dominated by men.
Teachers still deal with outsiders coming into their classroom to evaluate and review their
performance. Have things really changed that much?
In regards to pay, teachers still make significantly less than other workers with at least
four years of college. The average national salary for a teacher is $30,377 while other professions
such as accounting, nursing, and programming start out well above $40,000 (NEA). Some state
that teachers are paid great for the 6-7 hours that they work per day but these people are not
factoring in all of the outside work required to teach. On average, a teacher spends 50 hours per
week working, grading, coming up with lesson plans, and doing other instructional tasks. 50% of
teachers leave the profession during the first five years (Myths and Facts about Educator Pay).
These new teachers realize that they are unable to pay off bills, student loans or afford to live
with their salary. Many teachers have part time jobs so that they can make ends meet. It is
ridiculous that these people are forced to go into debt for a degree that isnt paying them enough
to live. Only 55% of teachers reported feeling somewhat satisfied with their salary and only 67%
of teachers expect to still be teaching 5 years from now (Feistritzer, Profile of Teachers in the
U.S. 2011, 2011). So what happens when the well runs dry and we no longer have any good
teachers in our schools?

EIP Project
Christian Arendt

Salary is not the only thing that impacts teachers negatively. We see the majority of new
teachers being thrown into title one schools in urban areas. These teachers have no experience in
the classroom and are now being asked to teach arguably some of the most difficult children in
the area. They are often given little support from administration or parents. These new teachers
go from college to life on their own very quickly and are expected to meet academic quotas
instantly. These things lead to a lot of emotional turmoil. Blaus theory of social exchange states
that individuals who hold positions of power expect gratitude and respect from persons in lower
positions (Papastylianou, A., Social Psychology Education). When youre teaching, especially
in these urban schools, you dont always get that. More experienced teachers know how to deal
with this kind of situation but a teacher that has just been given his/her first job doesnt. This
emotionally drains new teachers and often results in them leaving their school or the education
field in general. The students in the urban schools go through a cycle of new teachers which
doesnt help them at all and the teachers go through a cycle of schools, which eventually results
in them wanting to quit teaching all together.
As youve obviously seen, teaching is one of the highest stress social professions.
Teachers experience anxiety, depression, and other behavioral/physiological consequences due to
the stresses they face daily. It has been shown that ongoing stresses like the ones teachers deal
with can influence psychological help at a drastic rate. The only thing that has been proven to
lower anxiety rates in teachers is coworker support. Teachers with low support from
administration and other teachers in their school reported really high levels of anxiety
(STRESSAT WORK., 2014). The combination of the lack of support, crazy workload, and
students that do not cooperate results in a bad work environment. Education is one of the only
professions where you are expected to deal with disrespect on a daily basis. If you have a

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Christian Arendt

problem student, sending them to the principal every day does nothing but keep them from
learning. You are expected to handle disruptions and disrespect on your own with little to no
support from parents or administration.
One of the biggest complaints from teachers currently is the abundance of testing
required. When surveyed on work conditions/satisfaction, almost every teacher wrote in the
comment box that they couldnt stand the way that testing was handled. Teachers are asked to
teach to the test and that limits their creativity in the classroom. There are rarely fun projects and
assignments anymore because they simply do not have time. When I observed a 3rd grade class
for one of my education courses, there was no artwork on the walls. I asked the teacher about it
and she told me that there just wasnt any time for that kind of thing anymore. We are now
expecting children to sit in a classroom for 6-7 hours a day and regurgitate information so that
we dont lose our jobs or get a bad performance review due to test scores. We are not teaching
children to love learning anymore, we are teaching them to memorize and learn to take tests.
Outside forces come in and lay down guidelines for educators and we are expected to follow
them. 96-98% of teachers surveyed in 1990, 1996, 2005, and 2011 agreed that more participation
in decision making at all levels would make teachers happier and make it a more serious
profession (Feistritzer, Profile of Teachers in the U.S. 2011, 2011). Teachers simply lack
control. They are thrown in the classrooms and told to figure it all out by themselves but to make
sure that their students are averaging a certain grade on standardized tests or they will be fired.
As an education major, the statistics presented are severely disheartening. It is so difficult
to go into a career knowing that you will always be struggling with money, never getting the
respect that you deserve, yet constantly being asked to push your students to meet certain
requirements. Teachers are a crucial part of society but we dont take them seriously. When I tell

EIP Project
Christian Arendt

people that Im going to be a teacher, I am asked why and given a look of pity. Everyone knows
what the situation is for teachers yet no one is doing anything to fix it. Educators choose to
pursue this career because they love learning. The look in a students eyes when they finally
grasp a hard concept is worth the poor pay. A thank you note from a student that just graduated
high school and was accepted into a great college partially because of you is worth the students
that dont respect you. Should teachers have to make all of these sacrifices to educate our
children? Should we be asking teachers to pick up a second job to make ends meet because we
cant afford to pay them any more? Teachers are helping the children of the world grow. Their
classrooms are full of future civil rights activists, doctors, judges and musicians. The children in
these classrooms are going to grow up and change the world someday. These kids are going to be
the only ones in the world someday. Dont they deserve the best? Dont these teachers that are
shaping their minds deserve to be fairly compensated for it? Teaching is the most respected
positon in other parts of the world but in America, garbage truck workers start out making more
than our educators. Everyone sees the issue and it is time for the people to demand a change.
Parents need to ask for higher wages for teachers to ensure the best quality for their children. As
more and more students turn away from the education profession, I am scared to see what the
teachers of the future will look like if nothing changes.