I am a retired university professor who decided to learn how to teach and to return to school to obtain a teaching certificate in Wisconsin. I wanted to see if I could jump through the hoops. I have had fun doing it and I have learned a lot that needs sharing relative to teacher education, unions, teacher salaries and public perceptions. I look forward to and will value your inputs, especially those that perceive teacher situations differently than I do. To set the stage, I will list a short series of dispositions so that you can better understand how my perceptions were formulated.
1. University professors do not generally teach; they profess. Some university professors are real teachers but many are not. I was mostly a not. Like many others my interests focused on research and publications. So, I was a great mentor to graduate students. Mentoring is not the same as teaching children in public schools. It is more like being a master electrician and training an apprentice. Most lay persons do not understand why a university professor can not automatically get a teaching license and work in the public schools.
2. Most lay people either dislike are jealous of and/or believe that teachers are over paid and get 3 months paid vacation. I work in a customer service position and have had several customer service positions since retiring. I was surprised duing the Wisconsin debate to destroy collective bargaining that most customer comments about teachers were negative and spiteful.
3. Teacher starting salaries are minimum wage plus 150 cents. Starting salaries for teachers range from about 23K to 30K per year. They work about 60 hours per week for this and are required to attend college during breaks or summers to professionally inprove. This costs money and time. In addition teachers work during many of the days that students are not in school and often communicate with parents after normal work hours. So, teachers work at least 11 months of the year. Therefore, hourly compensation is 23000/11 months/4 weeks/60hours = $8.70/hour. I learned this by substitute teaching for 3 years.
4. Wisconsin Teacher Union is a Failure. Teachers have power but fail to use it. I am old enough to remember learning the important work that labor unions did for common workers in the U.S. Without them most adults would have salaries so low that they could never afford a home or new car. I believe we are headed toward that day now. I believe that the union should have called a general state wide strike. I still believe it. I am an iconoclast after all. Ask this, "Why am I paying union dues?" So far it's for nothing.
5. Student Teaching Candidates are not schooled in the realities. Most students will not find full time teaching jobs for years. They will be substitutes, perhaps, and will need other jobs to survive. There is a web site that shows the number of applications per advertised teaching position by content area. The figures are staggering. I know teachers who searched for jobs for 4-5 years before they were successful. Some are still not successful. They have spent years in school and tens of thousands of dollars for nothing. One friend spent over $10K for college training to add a license category and Master's degree in hopes of a $5K annual raise. Now, that veteran teacher can't have any raise and owes a lot of money. All of the graduate students who I mentored are professionally employed and financially successful. So, this is a sensitive issue for me. It is really important I think to focus on employment, not just licensure, in a professional college.
INVITATION
Am I out of line or just angry at the injustice I perceive? I will value your insights and opinions regarding teacher compensation, training and employment in Wisconsin.
http://player.vimeo.com/video/22439234
A class project - a digital biography uusing vuvow
http://www.vuvox.com/collage_express/collage.swf?collageID=04570c5d7b
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