There is a scene in the first episode of Breaking Bad where Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher, is working his second job at a car wash. He is on the line scrubbing the wheels of a Corvette, a car that he couldn’t possibly afford on his teacher’s salary. As he’s cleaning the wheels of that Corvette, a student named Chad, who Walter had problems with in class earlier in the day, comes out and takes a photo of his teacher cleaning the wheels of his sports car. While that would be an absolutely degrading experience for a teacher, there’s no doubt that similar incidents have actually played out in communities across the country.
The entire premise of Breaking Bad could wouldn’t have worked if teachers weren’t treated as if they’re second-class citizens. The Walter White character had to turn to making and selling methamphetamine just to pay for cancer treatment. Think about that: A television show, based in the United States of America, which is the richest nation in the world, had an entirely plausible plot that a high school teacher had to turn to manufacturing drugs to pay for cancer treatments that his insurance would not cover, and that he could not afford on his salary. Hell, before his cancer was diagnosed he had to work a second job just to support his family. Again, this was a plausible plot in 21st century America.
Why was the plot plausible? At one time teachers were well-respected professionals—and to many of us on the left side of the political spectrum, they still are. But to those on the right they are parasites sucking the public dry. Politicians scream that teachers must be held accountable for failing classrooms, even though the causes of poor student performance often come down to things that teachers have little to no control over: Parental involvement and poverty. The uneducated and undereducated share memes on social media about how teaching is not a real job because teachers get their summers off. They don’t realize or care how many hours teachers have to work during the school year, and that they have to meet continuing education requirements on their own time, with their own money.
Starting pay for teachers ranges from $27,000 in Montana up to $51,000 in the District of Columbia, with the nationwide average being around $36,000 per year. Student loans have to be paid off, rent has to be paid, and school supplies need to be purchased (tell me one other job where you have to purchase your own office supplies). Turnover for new teachers is extremely high.
Several studies, including our own analyses, have estimated that between 40% and 50% of new teachers leave within the first five years of entry into teaching. Moreover, we have found that the attrition rates of first-year teachers have increased by about one-third in the past two decades. So, not only are there far more beginners in the teaching force, but these beginners are less likely to stay in teaching. In short, both the number and instability of beginning teachers have been increasing in recent years.
Low pay, large class sizes, little to no state support for education, and a lack of respect for the teaching profession—is it any wonder there is such a high turnover for new teachers? Some communities, like Yuma, Arizona, are trying to address this issue.
A new movement seeks to provide Yuma County teachers with supplemental income during school breaks to help them stay in the community.
Summer Works in Yuma aims to pair teachers with local businesses for five to eight weeks during the summer or winter to help teachers out financially, and to give them some stability, said John Courtis, executive director of the Yuma County Chamber of Commerce. “How can we as a community let our teachers know -- hang in there, stick with us, we’ll support you, we’ll do what we can as a community to let you know that we understand your plight.”
As Nikki Haley would say … bless their hearts. While the Yuma County Chamber of Commerce surely has its heart in the right place, this does not fix the problem of low teacher pay. Teachers need community support. They need legislators to actually fund public education instead of diverting funds away to charter schools, religious schools, and for-profit schools. They need to be paid far better than they are, education needs to stop being a political football, and above all, teachers should be just as respected as doctors and lawyers.
To all teachers out there: I applaud you. You teach the children who will be the future of this nation. You do this on a shoestring budget, often paying for classroom items out of your own pockets. At times you become role models for children. You do more to mold and shape a child’s life than some parents do. You give up your free time to coach athletics, run after-school clubs—and when you get home, you grade papers. You should not have to work two or more jobs to make ends meet.