Letter: Low salaries for teachers at heart of problem

Friday, Aug. 6, 2004 | 8:53 a.m.

I read with interest and enjoyment the recent letter by Virgil A. Sestini. Mr. Sestini was my science teacher back in the dark days of my unimpressive high school career. While I was certainly not a stellar student, he was a stellar teacher.

Mr. Sestini asks, "What is a good teacher worth?" Excellent question. Much of the media and the general public loves to focus on the negative in education and blame many education woes on what goes on in the classroom. Tremendous pressure is forced on any individual teacher by parents, administrators and society in general. While educational detractors are strong on verbiage and demands, they are equally weak on understanding and realistic solutions. The average individual is quite unaware of the impact a school district's administrators have on education. They are the ones who formulate policies, develop programs, distribute funds, set priorities and then order the teachers to implement it all, often with no guidance and/or training, and certainly with little explanation.

"What is a good teacher worth?" Well, apparently in Nevada, and many other states, not much. When well-trained and very qualified people can't earn a living wage, let alone a respectable one, in a profession they love, they reluctantly leave it. Nationally, 50 percent of newly hired teachers will leave teaching within five years, most because they financially can't survive. The complainers will continue to whine, the legislators will continue to underfund, and in the end they will still be mystified why they got what they paid for.

PAM YOUNG