![]() That's a lot of money to potentially owe, if you're going to going to graduate with a master's degree that prepares you for a job that pays so little. The average amount of loans also increased for first-time, full-time students, by 39 percent, from $5,100 in 2001 to $7,000 in 2012. Unsurprisingly, student loan debt has also increased, with 49 percent of first-time, full-time students receiving loans for 2012-3. Tuition and fees for full-time students at four-year schools averaged $14,300 in 2013-14, according to the National Center for Education Statistics – a 45 percent increase from 2000-1. Most teachers are looking at five or six years of preparation for their profession, in an era when the cost of college is rising faster than wages. At minimum, teachers have to complete four years of postsecondary education in many areas, a master's degree is either an official or informal requirement. And generally, before anybody is allowed to get in front of a classroom, they have to get a state-approved teaching certification, which usually requires spending time as an unpaid student teacher. Requirements vary by state, but teachers are typically required to complete a bachelor's degree and a teacher preparation program, which sometimes requires a master's degree. It takes a lot of education to become a teacher, and education, in the U.S., has never been a more expensive investment. So why do we characterize teachers as low paid workers, especially if their careers offer so many intangible benefits like a consistently strong feeling that teaching makes the world a better place? It's not petroleum engineer money, but it's not peanuts, either. The median household income in the United States is $53,046, according to the Census Bureau a family whose earning members included two secondary school teachers would potentially make $64,200. That’s not exactly poverty-level earnings. ![]() More than 80 percent of Kindergarten teachers, middle school teachers and secondary school teachers say their job makes the world a better place, but all earn less than $45,000 per year. Other teachers report similarly high meaning and low pay. Their earnings also hover around clergy level: $43,600 median pay for postsecondary English teachers, and $46,600 for clergy. That's second only to the clergy for high job meaning. ![]() Ninety-six percent of postsecondary English language and literature teachers reported high job meaning. But they also report consistently low rates of pay. PayScale's recent report, The Most and Least Meaningful Jobs, shows that teachers at all levels report consistently high levels of job meaning. And because of that disparity, some jobs, like teachers, end up having to leave the profession they felt so driven to go into. For many occupations, however, there is a significant disparity between pay and meaning. For example, surgeons earn over $300,000 a year and 96 percent of them say their job makes the world a better place. When it comes to choosing a career, you don't have to decide between meaning and money. For the Love of the Job: Does Society Pay Teachers What They Are Worth?
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