Pay should be negotiated on an individual level.
There are a lot of teachers and a lot of people who want to be teachers.
They shouldn't have high pay because we've built it into being some holy rollin, noble profession.
It's a job.
I taught in Georgia. In Georgia, there is no such thing as hard tenure and unions are relatively weak. Base pay is set by the state (not unions) with each school district (usually, but not always, by county) adding a supplement.
The pay should be higher because the qualifications to teach are relatively high compared to other jobs of comparable salaries.
Unionizing has caused disastrous results, especially because your customers are captive to you.
They have to buy the product whether they want it or not.
I am not a big fan of liberal unions, that is to be sure. If you want to get better teachers who are not beholden to liberal unions and ideas, pay them more.
It's not right that I still have to pay for the local school.
It's called taxes. Tuition-free education is considered a basic human right and nearly all developed countries provide tuition-free education through ninth grade.
My wife instructs my kids.
Good for her. Not everyone has the time to do that. There are many two-earner families nowadays...
That's why I said it shouldn't be compulsory, not to forget that the budget would be lean and based on cost efficiency.
Education ought to be compulsory for at least 12 years. High school dropouts are far more likely to be on the public dole than those who graduate.
I've had it with state managed education.
Then get involved and support reforms, including higher pay for teachers, that will actuall improve the situation rather than throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Strong public education has a long history in the U.S. I am not willing to give up on it and in the future when I return to the U.S., I will endeaver to provide each of my students with the best education I can in the social studies as I did before I came here.
The same things have been happening for at least 30 years and they have no intention of really changing for the positive, all the while a bunch of children fall to the way side because of their inaction.
I am not pleased with the liberal movement in the profession. I hated it, in fact.
They have had their chance, they need the boot in total.
There are still excellent schools out there. Part of the problem is the culture toward education. In states and communities that have strong support for education, there are still very good results. Again, I see no compelling reason to throw out the baby with the bathwater.