Stop Whining--Teachers Salaries Are A Good Deal!

Here’s an interesting piece by Sittercityspeaks (thanks to Chris at Education Matters for finding it)

If Teachers Were Paid Like Babysitter

Maybe that's all teachers should be until society gets its priorities straight. –cpg (Education Matters)

by sittercityspeaks

We came recently came across a blog by a soon-to-be first-year teacher who was making the point that, despite complaints to the contrary, teachers are NOT overpaid. (Not sure who he’s been talking to, since we rarely hear that claim!) Nonetheless, here’s what he says he would make if teachers were paid like babysitters.

He starts by saying that all of this will be based on the average babysitter rate of $5/hour.

Note: The national average for babysitting is actually $10-12/hour for college-age babysitters. Check out our Rate Calculator to get a much more specific idea about what babysitters in your neighborhood are actually making.

Teacher wage per hour: $5 per hour for each student.
Average number of students per class: 22.
Average number of hours per day a teacher works: 7 hours.
Average number of days per year a teacher works: 180.

Class, let’s pull out our calculators.

Remember this? The calculator from hell.

The blogger continues…

22 students at $5 per hour = $110 per hour.
$110 per hour multiplied 7 hours a day = $770 per day.
$770 per day multiplied 180 days a year = $138,600.

He also argues that on top of this, most teachers put in an extra “three to four hours a day preparing, assessing, tutoring and participating in extracurricular events to ensure the success of their students.” Based on that, plus the fact that the average rate of babysitters is around $10/hour, his calculator should actually be well more than doubled… in the high $300,000s.

How’s THAT for a starting salary?