Teachers unions are at the root of the problems with our education system; teachers expect unreasonable salaries when they don't actually work a full day and get their summers off, PLUS they get a retirement pension! What's up with that?
I propose that teachers be paid at the same rate as babysitters, since that's basically they're doing.
The going rate for babysitters varies widely across the country, from maybe $7/hr. to $15/hr., but there's usually a discount for taking care of multiple kids. So let's low-ball it and say $5/hr. per kid.
Class sizes have been growing for years, approaching an average of 30 students/class, but we'll be conservative and say that the average teacher has a class of 25 students.
School years also vary, but a conservative estimate of 32 weeks of school (August 30th - June 16th) minus standard holidays totals approximately 140 classroom days.
And teachers claim to arrive early to get the classroom set up, and also claim to stay late grading papers and preparing for the next class, but let's be realistic and assume they're in the classroom with our children from 8 A.M. until 3 P.M.; 7 hours total.
So let's total this up:
140 classroom days
x 7 hrs./day
= 980 classroom hours
x 25 students per class
= 24,500 babysitting hours
x $5 per hour for babysitting each student
= $122,500/year
That seems reasonable, when you also take into account the fact that they're not JUST babysitters, but are actually teaching our children.
So maybe someone could explain to me why teachers are paid less that babysitters.