Teaching: Are you in it for the money?
Teaching: Am I in it for the money? What a silly question. Of course I am. I mean, why does anybody work?
I saw an article on teacher pay recently in the Charleston, WV Daily Mail. The headline: Teacher pay more than median income. And, well, in West Virginia teacher pay really is more than the state’s median income. The author, Zack Harold, front loads his article with that comparison (teacher pay v. median income) and points out that when viewed in that light teacher’s in West Virginia are the third best paid in the nation. They average 122% of the state’s median income. Only in New York and Arkansas do teacher see better pay – as compared to their state’s median income.
Harold’s article provides fodder for anyone willing to ask what his point is. He never quite says that teachers in West Virginia should shut up and take what they get. If that’s his point, then putting teacher pay in the context of the New York-West Virginia-Arkansas framework is insightful. Which of these three things is different? New York ranked 15th in median income among US states in 2009; Arkansas ranked 48th (higher than only Mississippi and, you guessed it, West Virginia). Teachers make more than the state’s median income in New York because New York values education and can afford to pay for it. Teacher make more than the state’s median income in Arkansas and West Virginia because the median income is so low in those states that paying teacher a reasonable salary requires paying them more than the median income. That’s a valuable investment in those states when you consider that education is an integral part of the path out of poverty.
People sometimes think of being a teacher as a calling. While individuals may think of it however they please, teaching is a profession. Before I became a teacher I spent ten years in a volunteer service organization – a Christian missions agency, where I raised money and paid them for the privilege or working for them – in places like Thailand, Indonesia, and some of the smaller islands in the Pacific. That was a calling. While teaching might rank high on some scale meant to measure the nobleness of service work, people still expect to be paid for doing it.
I’m in it for the money. Most teachers I know are in it for the money. But I don’t know anyone who’s in it for just the money. If money was my primary concern, I’d sharpen my computer skills a little more and go into search engine optimization, programming, web design, or something else related to IT. I teach because I enjoy impacting lives. I like watching first graders sound out new words and learn to really read. Kindergarten math is exhilarating. And teaching third graders to organize their thoughts so they can write a composition is a fulfilling experience.
After eleven years of college, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for me to expect to be paid relatively well if I’m good at those things. Even in West Virginia…



