Teacher Salaries and Cost of Living

What does it cost to be a teacher?  When you are a college student working on the first degree and teacher certification you look at the salaries you think you will make upon graduation.  The research presented in Teachers’ Cost of Living Matters More it shows that the average wage for elementary teachers in the United States is $45,670.  WOW!  I don’t make that.  The next statement in this article clarifies by saying average salaries range from $59,514 in New York City to $32,209 in Oklahoma City.  By looking at these figures, one would think working in NYC would be the way to go.   However, these figures do not show the cost of living in these areas.  (https://elearn.mtsu.edu)    

Some school districts even go so far as to pay higher salaries for the first 5 – 10 years as a way to attract new teachers and retain them.  Other districts that are in desperate need of teachers will offer incentives such as help with relocation, help buying a home, or a signing bonus.  (http://www.teacherportal.com)  Do the teachers’ salaries decrease after the first 5 – 10 years?  If so, do these teachers decide to move on to a better position with a good salary?

When comparing salaries, the cost of living is a major issue to think about.  There are 12 states with the cost of living that is higher than the U.S. National average.  The state of New York has the highest at 15.24%.  The state of Indiana has the lowest at 10.04%. (http://www.cityrating.com) I bet the salaries of teachers reflect this.

Something I see in my district is that the cost of living really makes a difference in our salaries.  I teach in a small rural, poor county.  While the salaries we make as teachers are not great, the cost of living is not great either. It does feel sometimes that the cost of living is increasing in our area, but teachers’ salaries are not.  The cost of living affects the teacher in more ways than just the salary they make.  If gas costs more, getting to school takes a big chunk.  Then if food costs rise, this affects us also.  These things hurt teachers just as they do everyone else.  The big kicker is classroom supplies.  Usually there is classroom money to spend, but when the cost of living in an area is high, the classroom money does not go as far, so teachers fill in with money out of their own pocket.  When is the last time a nurse, or other profession, had to pay for the supplies needed to do their job or for their patients  to use?  Teachers are constantly buying supplies to help them teach, but they spend a great deal on essential supplies the students require, such as pencils and paper.   I feel that if teachers did not have to spend so much of their own salary on buying essential supplies for their classrooms, it would feel like they were making so much more.  The salaries are based on the cost of living, but if the cost of living rises, do the teacher’s salaries always make the same jump?

References:

https://elearn.mtsu.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=2975445&tId=19133317

http://www.teacherportal.com/salary

http://www.cityrating.com/costofliving.asp

Diversity in our World

     America is a ‘melting pot’ of many cultures—I get it.  I however have a problem with cultures trying to make America conform to their native culture.  In the piece, New Immigration, it is talking about the immigration protests being a “New Civil Rights Movement”.   In 2003, protestors’ efforts played a large part in persuading the Senate Judiciary Committee to approve a more immigrant-friendly bill than the one put forward previously by the House of Representatives.  In this article, Partha Banerjee said, “It is about human and civil rights; it’s about all marginalized, under-privileged people in the United States.” (https://elearn.mtsu.edu 311)   What I find different about this and Civil Rights movement is the fact that many of the black people were here not by their choice.  Many of the black ancestors were brought here as slaves and the generations which followed were not necessarily here by choice.  I see many of the immigrants coming here, by choice, and not going through the proper channels to become legal citizens in this country.  By not being legal citizens they do not pay taxes that help fund many of the government assistance programs which they use.  It seems to me that the protestors and others following them want to get all they can get without any of the requirements and responsibilities of being citizens.
     There may be things I do not agree with about immigration, but I do feel that every child deserves a good education.  I found it interesting in, Toward a Centrist Curriculum, it is stated that there is an internal unfairness in our schools.  It states the no teacher can bring a disadvantaged child’s knowledge up to grade level, since no teacher can identify what that missing knowledge is.  It says that advantaged children get needed background knowledge at home, but less fortunate children can only get such knowledge at school.  (http://elearn.mtsu.edu 313)   This is true whether the student is from a home where there are no resources or if the student is from a totally different culture.
     I think that to be able to understand the curriculum, a student must have some knowledge of the culture in which it is written.  Cultural literacy is important in the classroom.  The idea behind emphasizing cultural literacy in schooling is the belief that it is possible to accurately formulate a list of essential trivial information and directly teach that information to students, enabling them to decode what is meant by the large mass of communications that surround them and define their worlds.              (Paul & Elder, pg 47)
     When I was in elementary school, it was during the late ‘60’s.  I did notice that all of the textbooks seemed to be written with white average children in mind.  Remember the Dick and Jane books.  All of the pictures were of your average white family.  This was true in the other textbooks also.  I don’t remember studying things like “Black History Month” at all when I was a student.  Now we have an entire section of our reading curriculum dedicated to just that.  If the class stays on track, we get to the unit during Black History Month.  If not, I rearrange so we are reading this section at that time. 
     I am all for teaching about the many different cultures in our world.  I also welcome those who want to come to America in a legal way and become citizens.  I just feel that if a person wants to live here, they need to learn and adjust to the culture which is here.  I don’t expect them to abandon their native culture, but they can’t expect Americans to abandon ours so they are ‘comfortable’.  After all, if I was to want to live in a different country, I would know I needed to learn the language and about the culture of the land to live there.  I would not expect the whole country to change and cater to me.

References:

Paul, R., Elder, L., (2007). Educational Fad, California; Foundation for Critical Thinking Press

https://elearn.mtsu.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=2975445&tId=19133311

https://elearn.mtsu.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=2975445&tId=19133313

Multiculturalism

My initial thought about multiculturalism was that it makes sense.  After all the definition of multiculturalism is a body of thought in political philosophy about the proper way to respond to
cultural and religious diversity. (http://plato.stanford.edu)  To me this means being politically correct and speaking to and about others in a kind way.  After doing more research, I found I may not be seeing the whole picture. 


In Why Multiculturalism is Wrong, it states, “Multiculturalism creates a world structured in terms of cultures, usually national cultures. This structure is imposed on people who do not want it: since it is a global structure, there is no escape. It limits freedom, it limits possibility, and it limits possible futures.”(https://elearn.mtsu.edu 307)   I had never thought of it this way.  Some people want to simply live a good life and not be categorized into a certain culture. 

I read something that made me stop and think about this topic.  The link called The Challenge of Multiculturalism said, “Something that well-meaning whites did not understand is that an "inclusive" history -- one that would be all things to all people -- is impossible. History has winners and losers, and they see the same events with different eyes. At the same time, virtually every non-white group sees the conflicts of the past as struggles with whites, so multicultural history becomes a collection of perspectives that are often not merely non-white but anti-white.” (https://elearn.mtsu.edu 305)  This is so true, not everyone sees things from the same point of view.  It depends in which side of the fence you are standing. 

When my research was complete, I understood that multiculturalism is not just making nice with all cultures; it is also about trying to make people from cultures think the same way and do the same as the country or cultural they are in at the time.  I am not sure this is a great idea.  Now some things should be necessary, for example, if I travel or plan on moving to Spain, I would need to learn the language, the laws and customs, plus understand some of the history of the country to be able to live there.  I would not expect them to cater to my language or beliefs.  I feel it should be the same in this country.  If you want to visit or live here, you must learn English and some of the customs and laws needed to survive.  If you are going to live within a culture, you have to adapt to certain things.  But a different culture should not force a person to change all of their beliefs.

References:

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/multiculturalism/

https://elearn.mtsu.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=2975445&tId=19133307

https://elearn.mtsu.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=2975445&tId=19133305