By Melanie Lemons
Student Reporter
Being an educator isn’t for the faint of heart. It requires patience, empathy, innovation, motivation, adaptability, dedication, determination, a positive attitude and most of all resourcefulness.
A profession in education isn’t just going to work at 8 a.m., teach, put grades in and then go home. It’s more like going to work, instructing, building relationships, getting frustrated, going to meetings, examining results and challenging not only yourself but your students. A profession in education is a gift, not everyone can do it.
According to Google, the average first-year teacher in Texas makes $46,194 annually. The average income for a paraprofessional is $21,985 annually. That’s far too little for as much as they have to go through. According to EDSource in the next decade we will need at least 100,000 teachers to provide high-quality education to our students. That may not sound bad now, but with a turnover rate of 14%, things can get ugly in the next decade.
Not only has the pay decreased, so has the discipline. Parents seem liked they don’t parent like they used to. Kids don’t use “yes, ma’am” and “no, ma’am” anymore. They don’t say “thank you.” They tell you what they are going to do and when. They walk all over you, all day, every day. Believe it or not, most parents allow it these days. Society is changing and the education system isn’t keeping up.
Management wants us to be the discipline and then they say that discipline isn’t acceptable or it’s too harsh. If administrators would support teachers and their discipline, teachers wouldn’t be so burnt out after their first five years of teaching. Teachers feel unsupported and degraded by the leaders.
Teachers aren’t allowed to express themselves in a way that’s comfortable to them, due to the stereotype teachers have to be professional at all times. Some teachers can’t have tattoos showing, piercings on their face or anything but their ear lobes.
Teachers are being faced with challenges daily and aren’t getting the compensation or recognition they deserve. Anyone in education deserves a raise or at least a word of praise.
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