Dear Editor:
Re: The 'absurd' truth about teachers' pay, In My Opinion, The Record, March 30.
Mischa Popoff writes: "Every teacher is paid based on seniority and the number of degrees he or she holds, degrees the rest of us are forced to pay for. Teaching is a rewarding profession which, one hopes, people would freely enter into because, first and foremost, they actually want to teach and be really good at it."
First, teachers are no different from anyone else and pay their own way through a minimum of five years of university. During their practicum, they work without pay as full-time teachers all the while paying tuition - unlike trades apprentices, articling lawyers or interning doctors.
Teachers are among many Canadian workers in both the public and private sector with pensions to which we have made significant contributions. If you would like to see how the government has mandated net-zero increases to some and not themselves, just Google "adventures in not net zero land." You might find the 40 per cent increase over five years to the deputy education minister somewhat absurd.
Frankly, Mischa, if you begrudge teachers their salaries and benefits, there is a very simple solution: you already hold a degree in history and need only to complete a 12-month teacher training program and you, too, can join our rewarding profession as a high school history teacher.
Your starting salary would be about $47,500 a year if you manage to get a fulltime position. If you do, you will wait at least four years to get a continuing contract as all starting teachers are given their pink slip in June - and many will wait until after Labour Day to find where they'll be placed so you might have to teach English, Keyboarding, Planning or Family Studies. One of the young teachers I mentored managed to get a position last year teaching kindergarten in the morning at one school and English 11 at my school. Her lunch break was spent rushing from one school to the other every day.
She is, however, one of the lucky ones because not many get a full-time job after graduation - most spend their early years as an on-call teacher. Many starting teachers do this for several years and are forced to hold on to part-time jobs at places like Earl's and Safeway in order to make ends meet. For some, it is a very long time before they can even start to climb that 10year salary ladder.
However, at the Vancouver Police Department the starting salary is $56,700 and the salary ladder brings a constable up to over $83,000 after just four years. After 20 years' experience, that rises to $96,000 - which is $20,000 more than the average B.C. teacher maximum salary. As a teacher, I do not begrudge the police their salaries and benefits - they do an important job and have my respect and admiration.
If you are unhappy with your wages and benefits, then why not contribute to society in either education or policing? It really is all about choice - and that, Mischa, is the absurd truth. Otherwise, enjoy the benefits of your career as a freelance writer - journalism is also "a rewarding profession which, one hopes, people would freely enter into because, first and foremost, they actually want to [write] and be really good at it."
Elizabeth Bancroft, by email
