> They do a pretty good job at it when you factor in long term pensions and health care.

They only get good pensions and health care because school districts refuse to give them better salaries instead. And good health care (really, health insurance) is crucial because health care costs can obviously bankrupt you in America.

> They create artificial barriers like requiring multiple years of certifications to purposefully limit the pool of competition

How is requiring the equivalent of a master's degree an "artificial barrier"? Surely, new teachers should have some experience and theoretical background before standing in front of 30-100+ students and being responsible for their education?

Florida passed a law making it possible for veterans to teach without even having a bachelor's degree. Does that sound like a good idea to you? Would requiring even a bachelor's degree be an "artificial barrier" in your opinion?

https://www.fldoe.org/teaching/certification/military/

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braincat31415 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

An average teacher salary in Chicago projected in their new contract is $110,000, plus pensions and heathcare on top of that. What better salary do you have in mind? An average individual salary in Chicago is about 45k.

They are still wining about this number and go on strikes pretty much every other year.

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teachrdan 4 days ago | parent [-]

> An average teacher salary in Chicago projected in their new contract is $110,000

Some quick Googling shows the average age of a Chicago teacher to be 41 years old. Is it insane to think that a professional with a master's degree should make the princely sum of $110,000 a year? Adjusted for inflation, that's less than I got in my first year as a software engineer.

	▲	braincat31415 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		That same quick googling would have told you that it is enough to have a BA degree and to pass a fairly short teachers prep program. You are comparing apples and oranges. $110,000 is the base salary. Add to this pension contributions almost completely funded (granted this is no longer the case for the new hires), a retirement on a full pension at 55, and a stable job. Good luck having all of this working as a software engineer for a private company. You can be made redundant at no notice, and risk always carries a premium.

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strken 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I'm not as familiar with the US, but Australia moved from requiring teachers to complete a 1-year graduate diploma, to a 2-year master of education. This is effectively doubling the commitment for someone to transfer into teaching from another field.

Requiring anything at all is by definition an artificial barrier. Some are justified and some are not. In this case, I question whether a longer education necessarily benefits students.