Well, since I went through the Pittsburgh Public School system and my uncle works for the PPS (as a custodian at the new CAPA), I feel I can comment on this.

My teachers had to put up with way more shit than they ever needed to. I remember when I weas in 8th grade...a shop teacher at Brashear had his BRAINS bashed in with a sledge hammer. There have been numerous teachers assaulted, harassed, overworked and underpaid in our public schools. They must constantly be up to date on state laws on education, new teaching theorys, test requirements, etc. Most of my teachers were open about how much they made. In PPS, teachers get paid extra if they coach a sport or hold another position in the school. For example, my functions teacher was also the athletic director, activities director, and wrestling coach. It is also very difficult to earn a decent retirement. We rarely had books for everyone, computers that worked, software that was updated, enough teachers for our gym classes to be run properly, or enough counselors to ensure that kids were applying to college or even getting the courses they needed to graduate. There is a lot of pressure to get students to pass the PSSA test and the thousands of other redundant tests that we have to take. I think that the amount of time it takes to make more than the state average is ridiculous. The union is very strong, but that's Pittsburgh. Union and proud. So do I think Pittsburgh teachers are paid enough? Hell no. I don't think they will ever be paid enough to do what they do. I was lucky enough to have excellent teachers, but I grew up in an environment that was not exactly ideal for letting students blossom into Rhodes Scholars. It'd be great to go to a Mt. Lebanon or a Sewickley Academy, but my mom and dad didn't have a silver spoon for me. But that's part of being working class, blue collar, and even *gasp* lower middle class, is that you learn to take nothing for granted. Everything is a result of hard work. Most of these teachers come from that background, so I don't feel bad paying them more than the state average for their hard work.

There are airport security people that deal with daily stress from being able to protect the nation and our citizens. They also deal with the stress of travelers that get angry. I admit, I can get downright nasty if someone tries to get me to take off my shoes when I tell them there is no metal in it and there is no rule that says I have to do that. But nobody talks about their wages not being enough.

And how about cops that are shot at on a daily basis? Should their pay be astronomically higher? Perhaps Iraqi cops should be paid a million US dollars a piece since chances are greater that they will die when they serve.

The unions should be destroyed and I will be happy to see many municipalities move to pay teachers based on performance rather than tenure. That would be great.

-Rudey

City schools are a whole 'nother ball of wax than what Danielle & I are talking about...I don't think there's an amount of money in the world large enough for the isht some of those teachers must have to deal with. :)

Agreed. I don't think it's fair or right that lazy teachers in my school district 12 miles away from Pittsburgh get paid $75,000 for what is a cake job compared to what the teachers put up with in the city schools.

On a side note, had my family not moved to the 'burbs when I was in kindergarten, I would've gone to Brashear.

I agree. I don't have a solution as to how to determine teacher performance but I definitely think that their salaries should be based upon both tenure and performance. Almost every job out there is performance-based. If I don't meet client expectations, if I don't meet my deadlines, if I just suck at what I do, then I won't get a raise. Plain and simple. I've had a ton of teachers who didn't teach and still kept their job and got a pay raise. The worst was my Spanish II in high school. She had a speech impediment where she would literally choke as she spoke. She had to pause after every syllable so she sounded like this: "My...name...is...Sen...ora...Blan...co. I...am...your...Span...ish...teach...er." Mix that with an incredibly thick accent and her awful choking noises after each sentence and you'll have a good idea of what I had to endure for the year. My mom begged the school guidance counselors to switch me into another class but they were all full. I learned absolutely nothing in that class because I couldn't understand her. How could you have someone teaching a foreign language who can't even speak?!?!?! It doesn't make sense. She realized how frustrated students were getting so she just gave up after awhile. She devoted 30 minutes of her class to doing stuff out of workbook and the other 30 minutes were 'study hall' where we did homework for our other classes. When the students who were in her class took Spanish III the next year, we were all so far behind that our Spanish III stayed after-school to tutor us.
Ms. Blanco is still teaching at my high school. The county is so desperate for Spanish teachers that they've kept her there. My Spanish III teacher is also working there. Since they both have the same number of years experience, they get paid the same. My Spanish III teacher should get paid more but she doesn't. She spends her time after school helping the students and she's a great teacher. Ms. Blanco teachers her students nothing. If they worked in the business field, Ms. Blanco's ass would've been out the door a long time ago while my Spanish III teacher would've had a raise and a promotion.

Probably not - there are rules of procedure, etc., that 99 % of us on here would not be able to follow. I'd venture to say that any reputable judge would throw us out of the courtroom before we could even get started.

Are you even legally allowed to serve as an attorney without a JD?

-Rudey