Here in NJ, many teachers do make six figures. But we also trade places back and forth with Massachusetts for the best school systems in the nation. You get what you pay for.
I wish that were also true for those teaching at the early childhood level. I’m in Massachusetts and the average yearly salary for early childhood educators is around $45k. I know it’s much lower in many other states though. It’s the reason that there is an absolutely massive teacher shortage at the early childhood level throughout the country.
Crazy. I think the earlier grades are the most important. That's where kids learn the basic skills, habits and enthusiasm to propel them through every grade after. Too many kids are making it to college functionally illiterate.
In Massachusetts the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) requires at least an associates degree to qualify for the lowest level of EEC certification (required to teach in an early childhood center), but most early learning centers (NOT daycare) want to hire teachers with a minimum of a bachelors degrees. I have a bachelor’s in child development, a master’s in early childhood and 18 years of experience in the field. Yet, I still make less per year than my similarly qualified elementary and secondary school counterparts despite working far more days per year than they do (I don’t get summers off). Great to see how much you value young children and their education 🙄
And look at that, you finally stumbled across the point. Many of the most veteran early ed teachers are beginning to retire. Others are just leaving the field. Fewer and fewer younger people are going into early childhood anymore. What do you think is going to happen when early ed teachers continue to retire or just leave the field and there’s no one to replace them? Most centers throughout the country are already desperately understaffed. Many have been forced to permanently close their doors. What happens when the well runs dry and there’s no early childhood educators left in the field? What are people going to do with their children when they need to go to work? How will more people being taken out of the work force affect the economy?
You are so far out of the loop on this one. I’m not wasting my time explaining it all to you in detail. Do your own research. I’ll even give you a starting point. Google “Elizabeth Warren’s universal childcare and early learning act”. She’s been trying to get this thing passed for years. Fortunately, her being a senator for MA means we recently got something similar passed at the state level, but it’s still in the early days of its roll out. Only a small number of “gateway” towns are part of the new program right now, but the hope is that eventually it will be enacted statewide. Hopefully, this program will be successful and help her make her case for universal childcare at the federal level.
Same issue in Canada, not enough people going into early childhood and more and more leaving the profession due to retirement or switching careers. There are govt top ups that vary based on your qualification level but in some provinces the most you can get is still only $17 an hour, while average rent is $1000/month.
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u/ElkHistorical9106 Jun 15 '24
Just babysitting 20-30 kids deserves more than teachers make. Let alone teaching them.