I was standing in my kitchen after nine hours of teaching, two hours at a part-time side job and three more hours at another job, with sweat dripping down my forehead because we couldn’t afford to turn on our air conditioning. This was one of the moments that broke me.
I was standing there exhausted, after giving every ounce of energy I had to over 200 high schoolers who, along with their parents, had little to no respect or common decency toward me as a hardworking professional. I then mustered up everything I could to get to a flexible, low-paying, part-time job and then on to another job. I had come home after 9 p.m. with almost no energy or patience left over for my sweet supportive husband, and after doing this routine almost every day since I began teaching, I felt defeated.
It is widely acknowledged that the public education system is not enough for our students. It is a system that is broken and, as teachers, we know that better than anyone. But it’s the system we have to work within and every teacher in America is trying to do what’s best for their students within the restrictions of this broken system.
The state of Utah is in the bottom 20 percent of states when it comes to the “teaching penalty,” or how much less you will make by becoming a teacher instead of doing something, anything else with your degree and work experience. By taking a job outside of teaching, a person could be making at least 25 percent more income, so then what are we doing to attract those hardworking, inspiring, devoted professionals into education instead?
Recognizing that my measly salary isn’t enough, I recently began a masters program so that eventually, after two years and $18,000 in tuition, I could fulfill my dream of turning on the air conditioning. However, that was not my only dream. I also had dreams of getting my hair cut more than once a year, buying professional clothing for work and maybe even getting cable.
Now, at this point, you may be saying, “But you didn’t go into teaching for the money. You knew this when you got your degree. You are expecting too much.”
And you’re right, I didn’t go into teaching for the money. But I also didn’t anticipate the three part-time side jobs on top of 60-hour teaching weeks, to end up making excuses to my friends on Saturday nights because I didn’t have money to go out to dinner. And I didn’t anticipate dripping sweat in my own kitchen every May through September without AC.
I love my job, but I shock even myself with how of often I think of quitting. Every single teacher I know, without a single exception, has a working spouse or an additional part-time job so that we can sustain the hobby of teaching. We do this because it’s rewarding and because some of us can make it work.
But what about the hundreds of thousands of amazing teachers who could have changed our students lives who couldn’t live on such a meager income? The teachers who couldn’t, or didn’t want to, have three other jobs on top of a full-time job, but have so much to offer our youth.
We know for a fact that teacher quality is the single most important factor to student achievement, and yet the salary does not attract or retain qualified and skilled teachers. I’m grateful that I can make it work, but I doubt that I can maintain my teaching hobby for much longer.
I know that I have changed students lives and there is nothing greater than that feeling. I live for that feeling. But at the end of the day, that feeling won’t turn my AC back on.
If joined by other teachers, I would go on strike tomorrow, not because I don’t like teaching, but because I love teaching. Polls show that two-thirds of Americans believe that teacher salaries are too low and that 78 percent of parents would support teachers going on strike for better pay. So why don’t we?
At the end of the day, all teachers and parents want the same thing. We want to help our students succeed. Increasing teacher quality and retention through higher pay is the most influential way to do that.
I am ready to make that push for our students and I hope you’ll join me.
Sarah Jacobsen is a high school teacher in Utah.