Why should I stay in North Carolina to teach?
Published January 20, 2014
by Dr. Wayne Journell,Asst. Professor, UNC-G, published in NC Policy Watch, January 13, 2104.
Governor McCrory, I need your help.
I am a teacher educator at UNC-Greensboro, and this semester I have 24 student teachers who are preparing to teach social studies to middle and high schoolers. One of the things that I tell my pre-service teachers is that if a student asks them a really tough question, they should do what they can to find the answer. That is why I need your help.
Over the past six months, I have been repeatedly asked the question, “Why should I stay in North Carolina to teach?” Unfortunately I have yet to come up with a satisfactory answer.
Every year, as my pre-service teachers start their internships and see exactly how challenging teaching adolescents can be, I usually get the question “Is teaching really worth it?” Almost every education major asks that question at some point during their studies as they try to reconcile the amount of work and dedication they are observing in the field with their knowledge of the low pay, increasingly disrespectful students and parents, and overall disparagement of the profession that has come to define K-12 education in the United States.
Fortunately, I have become pretty adept at answering that question. I have no difficulty making a case for teaching; as a former high school teacher and a current professor of teacher education, I can attest that teaching is the most rewarding career that one can undertake and that the fulfillment that comes with helping a student achieve his or her potential far exceeds the negative aspects of the profession.
But in response to the recent public education “reforms” enacted by the General Assembly, my current students are asking a different question that has me stumped: why they should stay in North Carolina once they earn their teaching degrees?
As someone who lives, works, and is raising a child in the state, I want to see North Carolina continue to nurture and keep energetic, young teachers in the profession, but I also have a responsibility to my students to give them honest advice. As a consequence, I have been encouraging my students to consider employment in other states once they graduate.
The concerns over public education in North Carolina are hardly confined to my students. Drs. Scott Imig and Robert Smith, researchers at UNC-Wilmington, recently surveyed 600 K-12 teachers and administrators in the state and found that they overwhelmingly disapproved of the recent education policies passed by the state legislature. Perhaps most concerning is that over 74% of those surveyed indicated that they were less likely to continue to work in their current capacity, and 57% stated that they intended to continue working in public education, but in another state.
Of course, it is one thing to make such declarations on a survey; it is another to actually follow through with them. What I am assuming that you and your staff are banking on is that these teachers who have built a life in North Carolina are unlikely to leave. You may very well be right. When I look at my current crop of student teachers, however, the majority of whom are unattached 22-year-olds, I see people who would be more than willing to move elsewhere if it meant better career opportunities.
Their concerns are valid; why should they stay in a state that ranks near the bottom of national pay averages while, according to a recent article in the Washington Post, our neighboring states (SC, TN, KY, and VA) pay, on average, $2,000-$5,000 more? Critics will claim that those average salaries are inflated due to higher pay in urban areas in those states, but one of my former students who relocated from Greensboro to Botetourt, VA (which is nowhere near the Washington, DC suburbs or Richmond) told me that she was “very pleased” with the raise she received simply from crossing the border.
The low salaries would not be as big of an issue had the legislature not also eliminated the automatic pay raise that came with receiving a master’s degree. Again, why would my students choose to stay in a state that does not plan to reward them for improving their professional practice, especially when other states will? The legislature’s decision to eliminate teacher tenure only added insult to injury.
Again, Governor, why should my students stay in North Carolina to teach? As you can see, I am struggling to find an answer.
The only response that I have seen come from your office thus far is your promise to give the top 25% of teachers a $500 raise for the next four years. My students have raised questions about how that top tier of teachers will be chosen and whether those raises will continue after 2018, and again, I don’t have an answer. I am assuming student test scores will play a significant role, but what about those subjects that are not tested or, as is the case with my students, those who teach subjects that do not receive as much attention as math or science? My students are not convinced.
In short, I see no reason to stop telling my students to look for teaching positions in other states, and I have a feeling that more and more pre-service teachers across the state will be looking beyond North Carolina once they graduate. As a North Carolinian, I am concerned that this potential exodus of young talent will hurt the long-term stability of our state, and it reaffirms my belief that the chief beneficiaries of the legislature’s education “reforms” will be our neighboring states.
But I am willing to be convinced otherwise. I welcome your reply—but please hurry; my students hit the job market in May.
Dr. Wayne Journell is an assistant professor and Secondary Social Studies Program Coordinator at UNC-Greensboro.
January 20, 2014 at 9:32 am
Richard Bunce says:
Another screed from the government education industrial complex... Some State will always be at the bottom of the pay list... perhaps the other 49 States overpay for the results achieved... the majority of government school system students not proficient at basic skills. I note you did not mention any alternative education system employment opportunities other than government schools, why is that?
January 20, 2014 at 9:40 am
Robert White says:
Perhaps it's fitting that on this federal holiday where the nation celebrates Dr Martin Luther King Jrs life & legacy that this letter to the governor is made public. It seems that Dr Kings dream of equality, celebrated & strived for by most, still hasn't been fully realized by the public sector employees. In that spirit perhaps I can assist the good professor with his question.
Let's start with the complaints regarding the new funding legislation. Cuts, or more precisely cuts to the rate of growth in spending, are a necessary evil. Education didn't get some draconian cuts to its budget. The rate of inflated growth to its annual budget increase was cut. So let's dispense with the myth that teachers have suffered some great injustice. It hasn't stopped the construction of the monuments to public education with these super expensive schools being erected around the state or the good professor himself from taking a pay cut so that some of his less fortunate students or colleagues can get a bigger slice of the pie now has it? Disrespectful kids & parents? Hasn't that always been the case? Name me one profession that doesn't have disrespectful people it deals with. How about the elimination of tenure & bonuses for masters degrees? In the private sector where most of us myself included work, we are lucky if our attempts to better our skills even qualify us for a raise much less our job security. And give me a job that I became almost employed for life protections like teaching has enjoyed forever regardless of how I perform. And lastly let's deal with pay. Public sector jobs, including teaching, when compared with the private sector have far outpaced annual earnings. Benefits, days off, bonuses, low or no interest housing loans, etc have long favored public employees & have made state jobs far more profitable & desirable.
So what should the good professor tell his students? Tell them it could be worse, they could work in the private sector & not enjoy all of those perks & benefits. And maybe they should worry about being the best teachers they can be & hope that the public paying their salary is understanding if 3/4 of their classes should fail & want them fired for poor performance. And tell them that Dr Kings speeches about equality weren't just meant for race relations. He wanted all of society to be more equal for all. Public employees need to take that message to heart for a change.
January 20, 2014 at 10:40 am
Norm Kelly says:
Let's see how this all plays out. Let's look at some real information.
When the Demons controlled Raleigh, teachers got very minimal raises or none at all. At the same time, the controllers in Raleigh implemented a 'temporary' permanent sales tax increase. Every fee the Demons could find, both at the state and local levels, was being raised. The net effect on teacher pay was negative. At the same time, the cost of benefits was going up at the same time benefits were being reduced (think health insurance).
Now that the Republicans control Raleigh, and they are implementing REAL tax reform, trying to level the playing field, trying to insure that everyone pays their fair share (sound familiar?), then perhaps the best argument for this blogger is that the cost of living in NC is actually coming down while it's not in other states they could move to.
When I was in management, I had an employee who closed my office door to have a private conversation. He was concerned about how much he was being paid, not his income but his income in comparison to what others around him were being paid. First, I pointed out that discussing salaries amongst employees was against company policy. But I know this goes on, so I let it slide. We discussed what his options were. He told me outright that he had a job offer for significantly more and he would accept it if I didn't respond with a raise for him. We discussed his job offer. It turned out his offer was in Alaska somewhere. Knowing his wife, I knew how she would react if he told her where they were moving; I suspected this was an empty threat immediately. Secondly, I pulled out the federal government comparison of states' cost of living. At the time, the cost of living in the area of Alaska that he had the offer cost somewhere between 50& 60% more than Raleigh (as I recall, it's been a while!). So I pointed out that unless his increase in pay would amount to at least 75% more than we were paying him, he would actually be taking a pay cut. I watched his face as I explained this. He was disappointed; partly I assume because he hadn't taken that into account; partly I assume because he realized I knew it was an empty threat. Needless to say, this person walked out of my office quite dejected, but knowing that I was aware of his dissatisfaction and would do what was possible when it was possible.
Bottom line: if the cost of living in New York were the same as the cost of living in Raleigh, then teachers earning the national average would be a concern. When the cost of living in Raleigh is lower, then the national average becomes less meaningful. This is the answer to the students. This is the educated, intelligent answer that this professor should come up with. Continuing to follow the Demon line serves these students poorly. Refusing to look at the whole picture, as this professor does, presents only a small, mostly invalid piece of the picture. Also, it might be important for this professor to point out that neighboring states might be paying more right now, but since their budgets are being stressed at least as much as NCs, they will soon realize they have to make changes also. And if our neighbors make the same bad choices as Illinois when it came time to adjust their budgets, these students would be grossly mistaken to think getting more income there would satisfy them. At some point, every state that is running budget deficits, paying government employees too generously or promising retirement benefits or other benefits that are unsustainable, they too will start to cut back. Or do the Illinois thing and screw everyone. But those teachers that go there can feel good that their paycheck equaled the national average at least for a time. Future pain is definitely worth current 'gain'.
Prof: please present the whole picture or you do your students a disservice. Republicans are NOT always wrong. DemocRATs are NOT always right. (actually, demons are usually wrong because their first instinct seems to be toward socialism.)
January 20, 2014 at 1:30 pm
TP Wohlford says:
Okay, here's an idea -- Let's look at economic theory, combined with real life data, okay?
First, every person's wages is governed by something called "The Law of Supply and Demand for Labor." Just as the name implies, it is basic Supply/Demand theory. If you have a glut of teachers, or the demand for teachers is soft (due to, say, a shrinking population or a shift in public's demand for that subject), you're gonna have declining wages.
Oh, sure, a union, by force of extortion (that's what it is), can keep wages artificially high for a while, but the wages eventually do find their equilibrium. Ask any auto worker.
Second, I came from a high-wage state. Michigan ranks about 4th in the teacher wage scale. Guess what? Teaching there was tough too, especially in places hard-hit by ghetto mentalities or rural red-neck values. And teachers moaned, and complained about their low wages, all coordinated by a union that was closely allied to the Democratic Party. The test scores didn't show any benefit of higher wages either.
So what does the good professor tell her students? Well, you point out that they're going into a profession that has a glut of applicants, that even PhD'd people are working flippin burgers, that their field is infamous for justification to hire athletic coaching staff. You point out that the current infatuation with STEM minimizes the demand for their services. And yes, even if they do score a good job, that teaching is tough, and they'll hate it for days hoping for a nugget of golden experience, and all the high pay in the world won't change that.
