Teacher Salaries

Teachers' salaries have been a controversial topic between people for years now. Some people say that teachers are grossly underpaid because they do a lot of unsee work, while others argue they are over-paid because they only work 180 days a year. However, Knoxville's average public school teacher salary is $55,671; is that really over-paid? Over the years, there have been walkouts and protests to advocate for higher pay. Low paying salaries have caused issues with teachers leaving the profession or having low moral. Society needs to come to terms with the fact that future generations rely on teachers, and without them, there is no way the future community will grow and improve. 

Teacher reading a children's
 book to her students. 

In my opinion, teachers are incredibly overworked and underpaid. For example, society is still mid-pandemic. Teachers have to create lesson plans for virtual kids, hybrid kids, and in-person kids while making engaging plans. Kids are struggling with attention because they are staring at a screen all day, while others are thankful to be in public. Kids these days are facing challenges that most adults have never had to face, so it is a learning experience for both teachers and students. Another thing to consider is this: how much time do teachers spend outside of the classroom? Have you ever seen a teacher sit down during class and plan what they are doing tomorrow? No, they can't because they have a classroom full of students waiting for instruction. They spend hours outside of regular school hours lesson planning, grading homework, making extra materials for students working ahead or behind, emailing administration or parents, and so much more that people do not see. Teachers are educating our future learners, so giving them higher pay would make an already rewarding job even better. I truly hope we can raise the salary of teachers for the betterment of our youth.