What's A Teacher's Monetary Value Really Worth?

Many people who have little clue how education works thinks that the teaching profession is just  "glorified babysitting of their children".  We get the summers off, only teach nine months out of the year, and, spend less than seven hours at school.  While the reality is that a teacher's day really is twelve hours a day between before class preparation and after school lesson planing, calling and writing parents, and unit development.  Moreover,many teachers spend large parts of their weekends on grading, correcting, and developing academic tasks for the week ahead.  This does not include the fact that teachers must maintain their certification by taking courses, getting their graduate degree, and pass their content specialty test.  Most intelligent people know that teaching is a high stress job and the summer and holidays are necessary to reduce the ever increasing stressful classroom environment and to recharge the batteries of teachers.  However, let's leave all that behind us and let's agree that teaching your child is "glorified babysitting" and concentrate on what is a teacher's value really is worth?

First, lets assume that teachers make the New York State minimum wage of $7.75 per hour to "babysit" each student under their supervision.  Since the teacher works six hours and fifty minutes daily and let's take off the 45 minute lunch period and you come out with $7.75 x 6.1 hours = $41.28 per day to "babysit the student".  However, the average class size for teachers are 30 students.  Therefore, its $41.28  must be  multiplied by the 30 students = $1,418 daily.  Where not finished just yet. Since the minimum school year is 180 days of instruction time the daily rate of $1,418 is multiplied by 180 days.  Therefore, the calculation is $1,418 x 180 = $255,240 annually  That's right, according to those non-educators who believe that teachers are simply "glorified babysitters for their children", by paying the teacher the minimum wage that "babysitters" get we are, at present, vastly underpaid by between 61% and 82% .

I propose that the union, in negotiating with the City, demand the State minimum wage that "babysitters" get.  Now that's what I call a raise appropriate of what the New York City teacher is really worth. This will make every teacher happy, even those traitors at Educators 4 Excellence who want "newbie teachers" to make the same as veteran teachers.  Give all teachers the minimum wage for each student they supervise and for those without a classroom  or teaching self-contained Special Education the default value will be used which is the average student classroom size in their District and grade level as not to penalize them.  Consequently, most teachers will be adequately compensated for "babysitting the children". Now that's a contract that I can support.


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