Actually...
Starting pay for a high school math teacher is $39,190 for a (technical) 187-day base salary. Hourly, Texas (in this case, Austin) teachers are paid $18 and some change. That's based on a 2080 hour work year, which, of course, breaks down into 40 hour work weeks. This is the disparity in the starting salary/187 day work year myth. Most teachers average around 14 hour days during the school year. They show up for work at 7 and then usually stay until 5 or 6, depending on their sponsored clubs, activities, et al. AND still have to go home and grade papers, prepare lessons, meet with the administration. Even based on a 187-day work schedule, that's roughly 2600 hours. AND they must still work during the summer. These are workshops, conferences, lectures, meetings, etc. Most teachers I worked with (around 300 high school and middle school) had about 2 paid weeks off during the summer altogether. Granted, the days were shorter, but remember we're still past the "average" 2080-hour work year. The average teacher summer is about 10 weeks. Even based on a truncated work week (say 30 hours), the work year hits around 2850. Break that down and it comes out to $13/hour. Don't forget that teachers quite often must pay for materials for special out of their own pockets without guarantee of reimbursement. Teachers don't make that much.
That being said, we need good math and science teachers. You'll just have to eat Ramen noodles, drive a beater and take abuse from smarty pants teenagers AND their parents for the first 10 or 12 years.
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Actually... Starting pay for a high school math teacher is $39,190 for a (technical) 187-day base salary. Hourly, Texas (in this case, Austin) teachers are paid $18 and some change. That's based on a 2080 hour work year, which, of course, breaks down into 40 hour work weeks. This is the disparity in the starting salary/187 day work year myth. Most teachers average around 14 hour days during the school year. They show up for work at 7 and then usually stay until 5 or 6, depending on their sponsored clubs, activities, et al. AND still have to go home and grade papers, prepare lessons, meet with the administration. Even based on a 187-day work schedule, that's roughly 2600 hours. AND they must still work during the summer. These are workshops, conferences, lectures, meetings, etc. Most teachers I worked with (around 300 high school and middle school) had about 2 paid weeks off during the summer altogether. Granted, the days were shorter, but remember we're still past the "average" 2080-hour work year. The average teacher summer is about 10 weeks. Even based on a truncated work week (say 30 hours), the work year hits around 2850. Break that down and it comes out to $13/hour. Don't forget that teachers quite often must pay for materials for special out of their own pockets without guarantee of reimbursement. Teachers don't make that much. That being said, we need good math and science teachers. You'll just have to eat Ramen noodles, drive a beater and take abuse from smarty pants teenagers AND their parents for the first 10 or 12 years.