Makes me sad, too. Esp. not being able to talk about the issue, because then people will say you are bashing the poor teachers. We spent the last year dealing with horrible incompetence. And when I tried to talk about it to administration, it was like talking into a black hole. They can't acknowledge anything, because of teacher contracts. Which I support, but not for the teachers who are actually incompetent or not doing their jobs. I want high pay and union rights for competent teachers. We have the same situation here where people seem overpaid. Elementary school teachers making $80,000 per year with about 15 weeks of vacation. Administrators raking in $200k. The cost of living is average here, not high. So, I don't think the "answer" is necessarily to give better wages. In places where teachers are clearly under-paid that may help. But at a certain point you get to a level where paying more is not going to bring in or retain better teachers. Also, something seems to be seriously lacking in terms of teacher training programs. I think they should be selective and challenging and if teachers make it in, and then make it through, they should be rewarded with high pay kind of like doctors are rewarded with high pay to make up for the cost and challenge of medical school. Imagine a world where people could make it into medical school even though they scored in the 20th percentile on their SAT and floated through college getting C's and D's. Kind of scary. So I don't know why it's acceptable for teachers.
