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Shannan C. Washington
Eng 341-5498
Dr. Spear
Argumentative Essay
11/15/14
Are Low-Income Public School Teachers Being Paid Fair?
Teaching is a job in America that is here to stay and is well appreciated. Many colleges of
education strive to mold their students to become the best teacher they can be. However, a
student goes to college for four years, majors in education, and racks up over $80,000 in student
loans just to get a job where good people are needed but underpaid. Over the past few years,
many public schools were forced to make budget cuts; however it seems as if teachers salary has
always been on the back burner. Many teachers leave their school after their loans are paid off to
switch professions, or go to a private school that pays more. However, many would argue that
only new teachers are underpaid, understandably, due to them starting out in the profession. Well
many educators, future and present, are considering quitting their profession because the
government does not consider the low-income public school teacher who has to pay for materials
out of their pocket and the long hours with a maximum of $48,000 income during the school
year. There are low-income school teachers who are struggling to support themselves and their
students in which seems to be unfair.
Many colleges and higher education facilities offer scholarships and other rewards for
those who choose to major in education or a field related to education. Could this be because of
the shortage of teachers over the recent years? Teachers have begun regretting their profession
choice and considered leaving. A study by Xiaofeng Steven Liu states, "Since the early 1990s
the number of teachers who exit the teaching profession has surpassed the number of teachers
who entered the profession (114)." Teachers are beginning to feel the pressure of handling fifteen

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to twenty early childhood students alone and having to pay for most materials out of pocket. Due
to these data results, Lui found that the most effective way to keep and gain teachers included
providing higher salaries (114). Due to educators leaving their profession, there has been a
shortage in well-qualified teachers being distributed equally.
Many educators are hoping lawmakers will finally address pay and funding towards lowincome schools. According to an article written by Cindy Long who writes for the National
Education Association, Higher paid, more experienced teachers wind up in more affluent
schools, and lower-paid, less qualified teachers wind up at low income schools, triggering a
cycle of inequity. Qualified teachers are not being fairly distributed across the United States
which completely goes against the rights of any child having access to a well-qualified teacher.
In 2001, the No Child Left Behind act was created to ensure every student had access to
equal education and qualified teachers. However, for the past few years there has been unequal
distribution of highly, qualified teacher across the United States. Adamson and Darling's
"Funding Disparities and the Inequitable Distribution of Teachers: Evaluating Sources and
Solutions" examines the factors involved in the unequal distribution of qualified teachers. They
examined data on salaries and costs of living in certain areas to find the reason why wellqualified teachers are not evenly placed. According to the research done in their study Salaries
also appear to influence teacher attrition: Teachers are more likely to quit when they work in
districts with lower wages. (Adamson & Darling 9)

When going into the teaching profession, a future educator must be passionate and be
able to fulfill their ethical responsibilities to the children, community, and society. However, that
can feel impossible when an educator is concerned over whether they should pay their light bill

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or buy the whole class posters, crayons, and other materials for an upcoming project. So much is
expected out of educators, however not much is given back. In an article written by Gary
Clabaugh, What I Really Learned In School: Money Talks, he starts off by stating how more
teachers are regretting their profession than before. He states that the main reason for teachers
leaving is the salary. Clabaugh talks about his friend and her experience as a kindergarten teacher
in the School District of Philadelphia. The school was a pest infested, dirty, and under resourced.
According to the article, The antiquated duplicating machine found in the room was broken and
there was no money to fix it. To avoid begging for use of the office photocopier, she had this
antique repaired at her own expense. Then it turned out that the paper the school furnished was
so flimsy it wouldn't feed through the machine (Clabaugh). This is the struggle of a teacher in a
low-income school. In the article, Clabaugh goes on to say that his friend only lasted a couple
months. A job that helps people (teacher) makes $19,000 less than a job that helps pets
(veterinarian) (Clabaugh). How is this fair when teachers work longer hours, including the
massive amount of work they take home, compared to a veterinarian who goes home and relaxes
until their next day of work?
Taking work home has always been said as unhealthy. However, teachers have no choice
due to the changes being made in education, such as common core. Early Childhood and
Elementary teachers rarely have time between taking their students to lunch, recess, and
activities to plan, grade, or even have lunch themselves. The proof of how overworked teachers
are was provided in October in Lake County, Florida. According to My News 13, Lake County
teachers say they are overworked and the load they already take home has doubled because of
the new common core standards. Debra Heitling, a teacher who spoke with My News 13, said
Were putting in countless hours. Teachers are emotionally and physically exhausted and its

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the beginning of the school year, So not only are teachers working from six to 4 in the afternoon
but now they have to go home and put in four or five extra hours of unpaid work while handling
personal responsibilities.
A teachers responsibility is to care about the education, health, and safety of a child. As
a future educator, I will be shaping the future with resources I am given. However, if there are no
resources how can I shape the children to become future scholars and productive members of
society? Low-income schools are scarce on resources which forces teachers to pay out of pocket.
How can a teacher afford pay for their own ink, paper, and teaching materials when they have
other personal responsibilities to tend to? If a teacher chose to not buy their own materials, then
how is that fulfilling their responsibilities as an educator? Hopefully lawmakers will see how
overworked and underpaid teachers are and figure out a way to provide teachers with the salary
they deserve, provide more funding for low-income schools, and change the education laws that
continues to overload an educators work.

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Works Cited
Adamson, Frank, and Linda Darling-Hammond. "Funding Disparities and the Inequitable
Distribution of Teachers: Evaluating Sources and Solutions."Education Policy Analysis
Archives 20.37 (2012): 1-42. Education Full Text. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.
Allegretto, Sylvia A., and Ilan Tojerow. "Teacher Staffing and Pay Differences: Public and
Private Schools." Monthly Labor Review (2014): 1-25. Education Full Text. Web. 3 Nov.
2014.
Clabaugh, Gary K. "What I Really Learned In School: Money Talks." Educational Horizons 79.1
(2000): 10-12. Education Full Text. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.
Curtis, Carol. "Why Do They Choose To Teach - And Why Do They Leave? A Study Of Middle
School And High School Mathematics Teachers." Education 132.4 (2012): 779-88.
Education Full Text. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.
Liu, Xiaofeng S. "What Is The Most Effective Way To Keep Teachers?" Academy Of
Educational Leadership Journal 11.2 (2007): 113-20. Education Full Text. Web. 3 Nov.
2014.
Long, Cindy. "How Do We Increase Teacher Quality in Low-Income Schools? - NEA Today."
NEA Today. National Education Association, 24 May 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
Schipper, Joel. "Overworked Lake County Teachers Beg for Relief from Florida Standards."
Overworked Lake County Teachers Beg for Relief from Florida Standards. Bright House
Networks, 6 Oct. 2014. Web. 15 Nov. 2014.

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