• BurntWits@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    Come to Canada, we have well-paid teachers here with fantastic benefits. I never understood memes about under-paid teachers until I learned American teachers make hardly any money.

    It reminds me of a post where someone said that Breaking Bad would never work in Canada because (1) he wouldn’t need to pay for any procedures anyway, and (2) even if he did have to, he’d make enough to afford whatever OHIP/insurance/etc wouldn’t cover.

    It’s wild to me that teachers aren’t some of the best paid workers in a given country. I grew up with “oh they’re a teacher, yeah they’re well off” and to think that’s not the case down south blows my mind.

    • ehxor@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      I mean, yes it’s probably better, but it’s not great. The Alberta teachers are on strike to demand better pay and working conditions.

      • cornshark@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Didn’t Alberta just float an idea that anyone with a degree can be a teacher with a few catch up courses? That would further depress wages and reduce the impact of strikes if they have a bigger hiring pool to hire strike breakers

        • mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 day ago

          Meanwhile, American schools are struggling to hire anyone with at least a high school diploma and a two week teaching course, because nobody wants to accept the awful pay and working conditions.

          Historically, one of the soft benefits of being a teacher was that you could find work anywhere. Basically, if your partner is the breadwinner, you can be a teacher. Because if their job required you to suddenly pack up and move across the country, you’d be able to find work wherever you moved. Everywhere needs teachers, after all.

          But things have shifted, and teachers are increasingly choosing to leave their field whenever that scenario happens. Gotta pack up and move across the country? Cool, I’m taking this as an opportunity to get out of teaching.

    • Hasherm0n@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      When I was in university, I learned that I made more money as a level one support guy at the tiny MSP I worked at than my professor who had multiple awards, papers, patents, and was also some kind of bouldering champion apparently. He was an awesome person and a firm lesson that the amount of money one makes should never be used to measure the worth of a person. Also that teachers need to be paid like, a hell of a lot more.

      Actually that reminds me of another guy I know. I spent a few years working at a GameStop and my store managers dream was to be a history teacher but he would have had to take a significant paycut in addition to getting a lot more schooling and certifications. Last time I ran into him though he told me he’d done it and I’ve never seen him happier.