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November 14, 2009

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Letter: Teachers deserve to earn decent wage

Friday, Aug. 24, 2007 | 7:40 a.m.

Thanks to Dave Newton for making some excellent points about teacher retention and employee satisfaction in his Aug. 15 letter. However, as a teacher, I take issue with this statement: "It seems that people become teachers knowing they won't make a lot of money."

A lot of money, no, but I bet most education students think you can at least live on the salary, pay your student loans off, then save a little money and after a reasonable amount of time buy a house, becoming at least moderately middle class.

Well, not here.

This chronic, ubiquitous attitude that teachers don't work for money, but out of the goodness of their hearts, has to end. Not chasing big bucks doesn't mean wanting to fight debt and near-poverty for the rest of one's life, and never be able to retire.

And some people want only to be teachers and wouldn't consider anything else. Thank goodness for them.

But what is with the attitude that they shouldn't be able to take a modest vacation or send their kids to college (what irony) because they want to teach?

I wonder how many of those who hold the attitude that teachers are saintly beings who don't expect to be paid fairly would like to have that same attitude constantly used as an excuse not to pay them a living wage in their own occupations.

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