Humbling: Twice within a couple of weeks

[ezstep]

Who taught you about sex education? :cop:

I learned it on the street...the way God intended!

:poke:

[L-1329]

Teaching is quite simply the most rewarding job in the world, yet the most challenging. The most difficult, but the most fulfilling. If and when the state governments finally realize that and raise teacher pay, we can do away with all these "wanna-be's" in the classroom and they can find themselves somewhere else. In my school district, we have nearly 18% uncertified teachers, and we are ahead of other school districts. Starting pay for a teacher, no experience, is $39k, plus benefits. After 10 years, you can expect to be about $44k. After 20 years, about $47k. 25 years, $49k. Look at your own job and see where you will be in 10 years, 20 years and compare. Cab drivers make more money. Garbage collectors make more money. Millions of secretaries make more money. But none of their jobs include shaping the future and changing the lives of young people the way a teacher does. No job is more important, yet hundreds or thousands of jobs pay more. Where is the parity? Little wonder there is a shortage.

A lot of these points apply to non-traditional school instructors as well. When I used to train new pilots, their lives were literally in my hands, and in my first full time year grossed about 9k. No one ever gets into that business for the love of teaching either, because that is simply financially impossible. They do it to build time on students dime's, and get better jobs. Sad, and dangerous too. I agree that it is very rewarding, but the low wages and struggle to improve my own standard of living really did weigh against the plus side. Still, there were a couple of students that I will never forget. One now owns and fly's his own jet, and another just simply loved airplanes more than anything. He never finished, but I got him safely up solo and to him it was one of the best day's of his entire life. And mine.