Quote:
Originally Posted by UGAalum94
Well, in a perverse way, the overall economy stinking may make teaching look relatively more desirable.
And while there are some people who have engineering degrees and undergraduate degrees in math and science who then get certified to teach, there are also people who went a math or science ed route who may have credentials that aren't truly comparable to those working in STEM outside ed.
And isn't it be a little goofy to say that because a relatively small number of secondary jobs are hard to fill with qualified folks that all folks in the same general occupation should be paid more? Wouldn't it make more sense to offer higher pay simply for the harder to fill positions? One of the really amazing things that teaching unions and professional associations have pulled off is that all teachers k-12 should be basically be paid the same, regardless of the supply of people available to fill a particular job. As a humanities person, it's paying off for me, but it's a pretty irrational compensation system.
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In PA the undergrad portion of your science/math Ed background isn't much different, and can be exactly the same, as non-teachers. You get a degree in that field, and then go on to get the MS in Ed. I know people who have go e both routes- people who focused on Ed undergrad and science majors who career-changed with a MS Ed.
Here in PA the market for STEM is going crazy due to the gas industry. We have a hard time keeping environmental regulators- they work for the state for two years and then go into industry and literally make twice as much. I imagine anyone who is in high schol or college, interested in STEM, is not considering the education field, and as the gap between pay outside and inside grows, we will lose the ability to attract high quality teachers in those fields.
Fortunately in education there will always be those who want to do the job despite lower pay and difficult work conditions. But I imagine a few years in a difficult school with increasing pay cuts may make leaving look much more appealing. Not to mention the "axe" of layoffs that is perpetually hanging over their heads. As a society we are certainly not making teaching a very appealing profession- from the mass villianization to the layouts, to the increasing size in classrooms...
It blows my mind that gym teachers make the same as physics teachers! I didn't want to insult anyone by mentioning that but it really is relevant to the argument. In regulation the state has started to offer pay incentives to attract engineers to work for them.
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