Teachers should receive higher pay

Having a good teacher can change a child’s life. If teachers made more money, they would provide better education and better opportunities which would therefore create a better economy in the long run. Teachers make a base for our economy. All of their hard work results in the jobs we have today, so they should be the ones getting high salaries.

According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual salary for a teacher is approximately $55,000 per year. If teachers’ salaries were raised, the outcome would be very interesting. A study was done at a charter middle school in Manhattan called the Equity Project. For five years, the teachers were paid $125,000 a year with extra bonuses based on performance. Of course, this meant more was expected from them, including longer hours, slightly larger classes, four weeks of professional development a year, and regular reviews once hired. The result? According to the Wall Street Journal, the first long-term study to evaluate the school shows that its unusual model is producing results. The study, conducted by Mathematica Policy Research and paid for by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, compared the school’s 480 students with students in a nearby public district school who had similar initial test scores, family incomes, and other demographics (the neighborhood is mostly Hispanic). As the WSJ reports: After four years at the charter school, eighth-graders showed average test score gains in math equal to an additional year and a half of school, compared with district students. The study found these charter students’ gains equaled more than an extra half-year in science and almost an extra half-year in English.

Not that there weren’t challenges. However, the results showed achievements. The public supports teacher pay raise.

“If we want to attract, retain, and motivate the best and the brightest, we need to raise the starting salaries of teachers to be competitive with other professions,” says Bob Willoughby, Associate Director of Research with the New Jersey Education Association. “Otherwise we’re not going to raise the standard of teaching and invite a broader spectrum into the field ? graduates who might otherwise have thought to become lawyers, doctors, or accountants.”

The public is beginning to realize that a quality education begins with quality teachers ? both of which will become more common if the teachers received higher pay. Nicholas Kristof from the New York Times states, “A basic educational challenge is not that teachers are raking it in, but that they are underpaid. If we want to compete with other countries, and chip away at poverty across America, then we need to pay teachers more so as to attract better people into the profession.”

We need to start looking at what other countries’ education, what makes them better, and mirror that here in the US. Teachers should receive higher pay in order for us to have a good economy, and for children’s education to be better. Studies have shown the benefits that would result in a pay raise, and an increase in the overall well-being of a teacher. It is crucial that teachers receive higher pay as soon as possible, so that everyone can benefit.

<Nichole Kim, Cleveland HS, 9th Grade>