TheLoop21.com

By: Raechal Leone (Add to your loop)
Thu, 10/15/2009 - 10:21

A teacher protests her salary.

Several pieces of news this week, which don't look related at first glance, say a lot about us and what we value.

First, CNNMoney.com released a list of the top-paying jobs, including:

1. Anesthesiologist
Median salary: $292,000

5. Sales director
Median salary: $140,000

10. Insurance broker
Median salary: $114,000

We find several jobs that have to do with our health on the list — good. A sales director, finance director, and insurance director are there, too, so you can tell we value money and people who work with it — fine. Then there's software architect, presumably to design the sales director's company Web site, and an attorney to work for the sales director's corporate office.

What's missing? I think the fact teacher, principal or even superintendent didn't make the list of highest-paying jobs is a big reason our public education system is struggling. It's part of why we still can't close the achievement gap between Black students and white students. And it's a large part of why we heard this week that fourth graders' scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress math tests are stagnant, and the scores of eighth graders weren't much better. Only 39 percent of fourth graders and 34 percent of eighth graders tested at or above their grade level.

Chester E. Finn Jr., of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, broke down the meaning of the scores in The New York Times: “That means that eight years after enactment of No Child Left Behind, the problems it set out to solve are not being solved, and now we’re five years from the deadline (for making all students proficient) and we’re still far, far from the goal.”

None of us should be shocked. For so long, we've made it clear through our actions that we don't really value education. We say we do, sure, but people treat things they value well. They make what's important to them a priority, which Americans most certainly have not done with education.

Teachers at public schools earned an average salary of $51,009 in the 2006-2007 school year, according to the American Federation of Teachers. Compare that to the median salary of $121,000 for a finance director and $115,000 for a lawyer.

Actually, the numbers are just a symptom of the problem. Again, the real issue is what they reveal about us — that we still don't fully grasp what study after study tells us about education and its potential to help students earn more and do better socioeconomically.

Teacher salaries also are an illustration of how reluctant states are to spend more money on any education expense. NPR reported this week that states are using stimulus money sent to them to beef up education funding as an excuse for shifting more of their own money to other costs. Instead of using the money to buy more of what they need for schools, 12 states have used the cash to help keep their education budgets flat.

When we finally begin valuing education for our kids, we can expect to see our teachers and students performing better, because they'll know what they're doing is important. We can expect to see more students going to college or technical school, and, if that happens, salaries for teachers and other school leaders will steadily move closer to the salaries on the list of the top-paying jobs, like they should have been all along.

Until then, it's unfair to expect anything more from teachers and other school leaders, when their salaries clearly indicate we don't think their job of educating our kids is not all that important.

Raechal Leone is TheLoop21.com's senior editor and content manager.

Does race trump higher education in the job market?

Yes, race plays a greater role

No, education makes the difference

It all depends on the interview

I'm not sure