Freeman 1 Taylor Freeman Dr.

Lee Gayle Eng 802 3 March 2014 Underpaid and Underappreciated

According to Mantsios, The wealthiest 1 percent of the American population holds 38 percent of the total national wealth [and] the richest 20 percent of Americans hold 83 percent of the total household wealth in the country (Class in America 700). Right off the back, when people think of what kind of people are in that 1 or 20 percent, theyre thinking of the careers that these people may have. Theyre thinking of people like Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey, people that they know are known for being wealthy. If you have that kind of money, you are in high class standing, and therefore, are respected by most. The way the system is set up, in regards to deeming which careers are entitled to the big bucks, is backwards in some ways though. A prime example is the salary of educators. Because teachers have the responsibility to educate the next generation, their salary should exceed any other occupation. Education is expected in all places of the world. There have been numerous studies that even compare the education level between countries. Scholars Meisenberg and Woodley give insight on fairly recent studies of IQ and test score differences amongst different countries. Cognitive ability differences between countries can be large, with average IQs ranging from approximately 70 in sub-Saharan Africa to 105 in the countries of north-east Asia. A likely reason for the great magnitude of these differences is the Flynn effect, which massively raised IQs in economically advanced countries during the 20th century (Intelligence Volume 41, Issue 6). Despite the length of this quote, its touching on so many important aspects of education

Freeman 2 worldwide and the cultural capital piece to the topic at hand as well. For starters, the mere fact that studies are focusing on the human brain around the globe, and scholars are making note of whos the smartest and why they are the smartest, vouches for the point that education is a life essential no matter where you live. In addition, the authors decision to point out that the Flynn effect helped boost the IQ of economically advanced countries shows how intelligence is closely tied with your wealth and class. As previously stated, ones class standing determines ones level of respect from outsiders, or how others view them. Readers have now learned that class standing is linked to ones level of intelligence. Readers have also learned that levels of intelligence are tracked and studied and made a big deal in the world. Which brings me to my next point how do these high IQ, economically advanced students get so smart? Without teachers or educators, dreams wouldnt come true. The information taught by teachers is the groundwork of the success to come from the students. King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals published work from scholars, Memon,Salim, and Ahmad, that discusses the intense training of requirements engineering and how it effects a career in software engineering. Requirements Engineering (RE) is a complex discipline that has been broadly recognized as being critical to the success of development projects...research into software development has found that a major cause of failure of software projects [like microsoft word, excel and powerpoint] is the poor fulfilment of (RE) activities by software engineers. Requirements engineering education (REE) needs to be provided to students at university level, before they become software engineers and part of the workforce (Analysis & Classification of Problems Associated with Requirements Engineering Education: Towards an Integrated veiw). Here, it is clear that an engineering career isnt accessible without a certain amount of knowledge and credentials from a university. Without college professors teaching the material, engineers

Freeman 3 wouldnt exist. Without an engineering workforce, the worlds technological functionality as a whole would be limited and completely different than it is today. Its a cycle and it all starts with teachers instilling knowledge into young scholars. Although some would argue that a teachers value decreases in instances of people pursuing jobs that dont require university degrees, the argument would be invalid. It is, however, a controversial topic. Scholars Hilal, Densley,and Zhao, shed some light on both sides of the topic at hand, when in reference to law enforcement officers. There is no consensus regarding the benefits of a minimum education level of a fouryear college degree for law enforcement officers. No state requires this for entry into policing and Minnesota is the only state to require an associates degree Police officers protect lives and property, but policing is somewhat of an anomaly amongst the human and social service professions...which generally require a baccalaureate degree...[however] despite the paucity of higher education requirements at local,county, and state levels, law enforcement agencies at the competitive federal level typically require a 4-year degree for initial hire. Special agents with the FBI...must possess a four-year degree ( Cops in College: Police Officers Perceptions on Formal Education). This quote is stating that on a basic level college degrees arent needed in this profession. This point does not lessen a teachers value though. Cops have to be trained to protect lives and property. You need a certain mindset for that and a certain level of training. The person responsible for training cops, before they can become active, can be considered a teacher. Adding on to that, the higher up the law enforcement ladder you climb, the rules change, and you do have to have a four-year degree. Therefore, the counter argument is dismissed. Educators will always contribute to the world, how it works, and who works in it. tea What most people do not zoom in on is the extra responsibilities that teachers have. Teachers have to almost be second parents to their students, voluntarily or not. Think about it,

Freeman 4 where do students spend most of their time? If you are in one place for about eight hours a day, your surroundings and the people around you will shape you in one way or another. Scholars, Chapman, Buckley, Sheenhan, and Shochet, discuss the connection between students relationship to their teachers and their performance in and out of school. Teachers and other staff spend a large amount of time with adolescents, and can have a powerful impact on their behaviour and outcomes Risk taking behavior, including violence and transport related risks, is the primary cause of fatal and hospitalized injury among adolescents. [An example would be] riding with dangerous and drunk drivers and underaged drinking ( International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. Volume 72, No. 4). After the scholars listed the behavior of students, they explained how a positive relationship mentally and physically in school can help with some of the students issues. A number of theories have been proposed to explain the relationship between school connectedness and adolescent risk-taking behaviour. One theory that has commonly been used is...the social control theory (Hirschi, 1969), which states that...greater involvement in school and extracurricular activities, leads to less time for participation in risktaking behaviors (International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. Volume 72, No. 4). To sum that up, Teachers are going the extra mile to encourage students to do positive activities within the schools culture and sometimes boundaries, just so the students can stay out of trouble. If students are going to be staying later at the school, someone has to volunteer to stay with them and monitor the activities. Thus, forcing teachers to invest extra time just for the betterment of their students. I went to a school that had mandatory office hours for any student that was failing or in danger of failing. Students couldnt leave until their homework was done. My school also would have Saturday detentions for three hours for students that filled demerit cards and teachers would have to rotate that responsibility too ( sacrificing their weekend to

Freeman 5 babysit hundreds of trouble makers). Its definitely more to being a teacher than just teaching. So the question is, why are teachers paid so little for all the work that they do? The question is, why arent teachers getting the utmost respect from everyone because of their job and responsibilities? The question is, why isnt the work of a teacher good enough to be considered a high class occupation? And the answer is, because the people with the money and power that control everyone's salary do not believe that teachers deserve that kind of respect, pay, or class standing. When the rich and powerful dont believe it, their thoughts trickle down to the rest of society. This happens all the time. Baynton describes how basically anything can be considered disabled if a scholar writes about it, and convinces a great number of people that science backs it up. (Disability and the Justification of Inequality in American History)Who is this scholar... He/She is someone with wealth and power. Even though Americas social and cultural capital ways restrain the possibilities for teachers to grow in recognition and get the paycheck that they deserve, teaching is the most important occupation that exists in todays world. It impacts the lives of so many people. Therefore, teachers in any form, whether it be a tutor, trainer, or professor, should be the wealthiest people living today.

Freeman 6 Works Cited Mantsios, Gregory. Class in America--2003 ( 57) Print. Meisenberg, Gerhard. Woodley A. , Michael. Intelligence Volume 41, Issue 6 November December 2013, (808-816), Flynn Effect Re- Evaluated. Are cognitive differences between countries Evidence from TMIS and PISA. Web. Ahmad, Rodina. Memon Naz, Rafia. Salim Salwah, Siti. Analysis and Classification of Problems Associated with Requirements Engineering Education: Towards an Integrated View King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals 2013. Web. Densley, James. Hilal, Susan. Zhao, Roohui. Cops in College: Police Officers Perceptions on Formal Education. Web. Buckley, Lisa. Chapman C., Rebekah. Sheehan, Mary. Shochet M., Ian. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 2014 Vol. 27, No.4 (413-431) Teachers Perceptions of School connectedness and risk-taking in adolescence. Web. Baynton C. Douglas. Disability and the Justification of Inequality in American History Print.

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