Letter to the editor: Teachers should be professional, quit 'whining'

Letter to the Editor

Yet again teachers are lamenting their poor salary and lack of respect for their profession. As a salaried professional, I find it rather irritating.

Teachers routinely complain about no longer being treated as professionals. Teachers wish to have the perqs of union representation, but also be treated as a doctor or lawyer. When was the last time anyone saw a doctor’s union or lawyer’s union? Most “professionals” do not have unions. They interact directly with their management when negotiating pay and working conditions. They are rated annually on performance and this rating affects the size of their raise. Many salaried professionals work unpaid overtime. When things don’t work out in their favor, professionals either find another job or they accept the offered conditions; they don’t run to the media and complain how mistreated and underpaid they are.

I fail to see how teachers are underpaid. They may have been at one time, but I don’t see it now. The average teacher salary in Prince William County is $57,000. If this is pro-rated to 12 months work it would be $76,000. Even in this area, I fail to see that as underpaid. It is on par with what I make as a mid-level engineer. The reality is that teachers are paid for nine months of work, not 12. Some may work during  the summer, but many do not. I have known several teachers; none of them routinely worked summers and all lived quite well. My sister is a teacher who also complains about her wages; she spent last summer traveling through South America. I spent last summer in windowless office. My job, my choice; her job, her choice.

If teachers want to regain their status as professionals they need to start acting like professionals again. No more whining about unpaid overtime. Dump the union and buy private malpractice insurance. Watch your co-workers get fired for poor performance. These are things that professionals do.

Teachers need to take some accountability for the disconnect between funding and performance that shows up in many school districts. It is simply not possible that every teacher is a great teacher. There are bad teachers just as there are bad doctors, lawyers, engineers and accountants. What teachers fail to realize is that those outside of their profession (taxpayers) would like to see some accountability. As long as teachers continue to blame everyone else: parents, the school administration, testing, lack of funding, etc. , and fail to accept part of the responsibility for non-performing schools and students, they will never regain their professional status or the public’s respect.

Ann Wilkinson
Woodbridge