It’s not just Michigan: Betsy DeVos and the Koch brothers have immiserated teachers across the entire USA
A couple of weeks ago, I published an essay titled Betsy DeVos and the Koch brothers must be so proud: Michigan teacher salaries down 16% from 2009. The title is pretty self-explanatory and the bottom line is that there is a very predictable (and predicted) teacher shortage in our state now because of how we have demonized, diminished, and demeaned teachers and their profession to the point where fewer and fewer people want to enter the field of education. As I have said in the past, “a society that devalues its educators is destined to slowly circle the drain until it glugs down into an empty, fetid tub of ignorance and stupidity. It’s not possible for a society to excel or to compete on the world stage when its children are educated by people who are treated as if they are parasites.”
It turns out that Betsy DeVos and Charles & David Koch have more to be proud about than the immiseration of Michigan teachers. As it turns out, it’s happening all across the country. A new report out by the Economic Policy Institute titled The teacher weekly wage penalty hit 21.4 percent in 2018, a record high makes it quite clear the American teachers are being derogated everywhere.
What they found in their study regarding teachers’ “wage penalty” — the difference in wages for teachers relative to other professions — is shocking and depressing:
- Average weekly wages of public school teachers (adjusted for inflation) decreased $21 CONTINUE READING: It's not just Michigan: Betsy DeVos and the Koch brothers have immiserated teachers across the entire USA | Eclectablog
