Teachers, having one of the most important jobs in the world, deserve to have a higher pay wage.
USA Facts states, “Teachers in the US are paid less than the average full-time worker, are underpaid for their level of education, and have experienced real wage declines for the past decade”. With the pay wage for teachers being so low, there has been less and less people striving to become educators. This is mainly because the education system is underfunded and flawed and results in many teachers leaving the profession.
According to the University of People, “teachers are arguably the most important people of our society”. Teachers should be paid a high wage because they are a vital part of our everyday life; they are heavily involved in our growth as human beings and the knowledge we gain that will help shape our future. Throughout our lives, we have teachers who teach us the skills that are necessary to our society such as reading, writing, and communication. They are responsible for teaching and preparing the next generation of leaders.
Unfortunately, many people underestimate this profession. Some would argue that teachers already earn too much money, that their job is easy because they have weekends and summer off, or that they do not do anything more than make lesson plans and teach a class.
Yet teachers do more than just teach and, in many cases, they are more than just teachers. They are role models for people to look up to and mentors to help guide students of all ages throughout their life whenever they need it, thus creating a support system they might not have outside of school. For younger students, teachers often take on the role of parent because they spend hours at a time nurturing dozens of students in a way parents cannot, as well as inspiring, motivating, and encouraging young minds to learn and continue to learn.
Having a higher pay for teachers could also increase the number of people who want to be educators. Often times, teachers become stressed and overwhelmed by their job and work environment and end up quitting their job. Many of them are forced to get a second job to provide for themselves and their families. They spend many hours of their time dealing with students behaviors, grading papers, creating lesson plans, going to meetings, staying after school for after school activities, and that list goes on. At some point, they feel like their job isn’t worth the low pay. With a higher pay, teachers would be motivated to stay and teach. The more teachers leave, the less education people will receive.