As the old saying goes: “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach!” However, teachers in Arizona are telling their students not to even do that. And it’s not the new common core standards that are causing teachers to steer children into different career paths—it’s the salary!
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You may be somewhat aware that teachers work for peanuts, and because of that, they want to take a stand! According to KGUN9, teachers in Arizona are discouraging their students from taking up the career because of low wages.
The University of Arizona Center for Recruitment and Retention of Mathematics Teachers holds an annual workshop for high school seniors who are referred to the program by their teachers. The workshop is designed to get seniors interested in becoming math teachers. However, the workshop has been cancelled this year because the teachers have refused to recommend their students.
According to a 30-year teaching veteran—who had recommended numerous students in years past—she simply couldn’t recommend anyone for the program because teaching has become an undervalued, underpaid, and overworked profession. She claimed, “I don’t want to impoverish people, by having them become a math teacher, or any teacher.”
The teacher added, “How do you say to a young person in high school, ‘I want you to take on college, and I want you to perhaps go into debt, because college is expensive. And then I want you to get out, and I want your yearly salary to be so bad, so low that you’re not gonna be able to afford to live.’”
Teachers across the state are saying they can’t in good conscience recommend that anyone become a teacher because the salary is so low. Another 30-year teaching veteran in the math department at the University of Arizona says, “I can’t say to my students anymore that this is a wonderful job when the pay is so bloody terrible.”
With some states and cities implementing a $15-an-hour minimum wage for fast food workers, many high school seniors might be tempted to start a career at McDonald’s! However, they wouldn’t get summers and all federal holidays off—but they wouldn’t be in debt. Decisions, decisions ….
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