As a teacher who has done the math, teaching has greatly fallen behind its historical underpaid levels. In the 1980s and early 90s, a teacher was paid only slightly less than the average salary. Now, that number is not close to the point that there are positions that will never be filled. They are letting pretty much anyone teach if they will agree to show up. Teaching wavers are at an all-time high. In places like Knoxville and Nashville, living alone on a teaching salary is literally impossible. It cannot be done. With a base pay of 40k a year before insurance and retirement holdouts, effectively 28-30%, that is someone living off of 2400 a month. Rent, in most cases, is between 1,400 and 2,000 a month in bigger cities. From Nashville and east, it is almost impossible to find anything under 1000 a month right now. So, while I despise OF and will never partake in it unless they pay me to teach an essay on there, the poor teacher argument that many are presenting is valid. Most new teachers I know work one or two extra jobs just to get by. In Tennessee, where housing prices have exploded, entry-level positions are not paying enough to live. You say that they "didn't know I couldn't afford everything I bought," as some kind of idea that people are just blowing money that they cannot afford to spend, and that is undoubtedly the case sometimes; however, that is a bit of an overgeneralization. Five or six years ago, the 40k salary was a lot more valuable than it is now. Real inflation numbers place five years worth of inflation at over 20%, while over the same time span, that teaching salary has stayed the same. In most places, teaching salaries only go up every 10 years unless the counties or cities use a different pay scale. Years 0-10 have the same state mandated pay. 11-20, the same, 20+ the same.
Go look at the MNPS and KPS school postings. Hundreds of positions are available. The culture has changed. The rhetoric discussing teachers is filled with more vitriol than ever before. Originally in the US, teachers were largely unmarried, single women who couldn't date and were controlled by the community. They were the ones who weren't married, and though religiously this is something Jesus says should be celebrated as their marriage is to the kingdom of God, we, as an American society, have always looked down upon single women. There are tons of names for them, none of them positive. Old Maid, Crones, Crazy Cat Lady, etc, all are thrown around, and that type of rhetoric and thought is directly intertwined with teaching as a profession. Look at this thread, for example. There isn't a sex scandal for other jobs that work with children. In my town, I know of several pastors who have had to step down because they could not keep their hands off the children or women of the church.
