Public Schools Pay Teachers 50% Above Market, Heritage Analysis Finds

[DanaC]

Excellent question, Rich.

It does baffle me a little the attitude we have to teachers in Britain and America. When we refer to them as 'public servants' or 'public sector workers' we seemingly lump them into the same mental space as traffic wardens, school dinner ladies, and refuse collectors. All of whom do very worthy jobs, but none of whom are equivalents.

These are the people who are educating our children. How can they be so dismissed and disparaged as they are? Years of education and training to be able to do what they do, yet we afford them so little cultural respect. Why?

Maybe because educating our children also sits in the same mental space as raising our children. Those who teach at a higher level have greater status. Not just because they are further along in the system but because by then the job is not 'tainted' by its association with the quintessentially domestic task of raising children. In short, teaching is women's work. Morover it is 'motherly' work. Far greater numbers of women than men teaching school aged children. This is even more the case at primary (kindergarten and elementary) education. We see this as an 'instinctive' task, rather than a highly skilled task requiring years of training.

Fucking depressing sometimes.

Added to that is the current tendency towards anti-intellectualism. We don't like clever people. Too clever by half. Too clever for their own good. Clever clogs.

We want homespun wisdom. Stuff we can get our own heads around. Experts and clever epople mustbe looking down on us. Our knowledge is as valid as theirs, whether we have acquired it through school or made it up as we've gone along. My view counts just as much as theirs. Why should they get special treatment? Why is their opinion given more weight than mine? What are they hiding from us, behind their couched words?

It's a double whammy.