#RedforEd. A powerful tag. Connected to energizing images. Derived from important demonstrations. Leading to newsworthy victories.
Arizona. Colorado. Oklahoma. West Virginia: States where teachers have rallied and struck, demanding higher pay and increased funding for their schools. States where legislators got the message….sort of.
The results of these actions may not be uniformly satisfying, but they are part of a larger, more uniform, story. A story in which teachers are among the actors, but all of us are authors.
Some background…
In 2017, the median household income in the United States was $57,617. That means half the households earned more, and half earned less.
Digging deeper…
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2017 the median salary for elementary school teachers was $56,900; and for preschool teachers $28,990.
By way of comparison, preschool teachers earn less than massage therapists. Elementary school teachers earn less than corporate recruiters. And high school teachers—at just above the median—earn less than insurance claims adjusters, subway operators, casino gaming managers, and many others.
There’s more: The Bureau of Labor Statistics pegs the annual median income of social workers providing services to children and their families at $44,380 and of healthcare social workers at $54,870.
What about compensation for physicians? The Medscape Physician Compensation Report for 2017, a widely used survey, shows pediatricians as the least highly paid specialty.
What do these numbers have in common? Children.
In our culture, we place a monetary value on just about everything. The higher the price—the more we’re willing to pay—the greater the value.
These data tell us that we value people who work with children—and, by extension, children themselves—less than their counterparts who do not. Pediatricians earn less than half as much as orthopedists and plastic surgeons. Social workers who work with children and families earn less than healthcare social workers. In some regions, teachers’ pay is so low they have to take a second job just to make ends meet. Still, many use their own money to pay for supplies their school cannot afford to buy.
Despite all the words to the contrary, all the kissing of babies, all the thoughts and prayers from politicians and clerics, we don’t seem to value children and the people who work with them very highly at all.
There’s something so wrong about this picture.
As we’ve all heard a million times: Our children are our future.
It’s time to put our money there…We devalue our future at our own peril.