Perception Vs. Reality part 1 (teachers)

     I'm in summer mode and just felt like addressing some issues that I feel like could use correcting in society. This post isn't centered on a particular theme besides "These are things I think people misunderstand and I would like to shed some light on them."
     The items I'll be writing about are drawn from my experiences in San Jose/the Bay Area/California - they may or may not apply to positions out of state, region, or even city - but I'm willing to bet there's some (or considerable) overlap across these lines. Things I want to write about are:

• The feasibility of teaching as a profession
• The dangers of policing
• The economic status of servers (specifically them and not other restaurant staff)

     After spelling out the things I wanted to write about, I realized there is a common theme, and that is: people can be very vocal in tooting their own horn to create sympathy. Additionally (or alternatively?), they do not speak out against misconceptions that benefit them.

How do I mean? In brief, and respectively, a few commonly held ideas:

• Teachers are wildly underpaid
• Police officers put their lives on the line every day
• Servers don't make enough to get by

     Well, this post wouldn't be a thing if I agreed with those things, right? Right. In short, I think each of those points is, by & large, wrong. AS A REMINDER, I am painting in broad strokes - as in these ideas will not hold for every person out there, but that they apply more often than not (& hate to say it, but most of us are statistically NOT the exception so... keep that in mind).
     Although I'm not qualified in the sense of having a high-level overview of teacher pay throughout the state, I do have the power of Google at hand (here's the query, if you're interested: "district name salary schedule," e.g. "east side union high school district salary schedule" or "san jose unified salary schedule"). The salary schedule shows you how much teachers get paid according to their experience and education level and works for every local district I've tried. So, what kind of numbers am I working with? First of all, assume an 8-hour workday like everyone else. Assuming 5 periods of teaching (which is the norm) and 45 min to an hour for break and lunch combined - that's about 6 hours of work. Add on 2 hours for lesson prep, grading, and other responsibilities - boom, you've got your 8-hour workday. So how much do teachers get paid? Well, in ESUHSD, starting salary is 60k. For 182 days of work, that works out to 1456 hours worked, and.... how many dollars per hour? Do NOT calculate - just guess.

Seriously.
Guess.
Just do it.

     Works out to slightly over $41/hour not to mention some of the best benefits in the state (relative to other districts). At that hourly rate, and for some other job (depending on time off), that works out to anywhere from 75k/year (6 weeks off) to 82k/year (2 weeks off). Not bad, right? & that's just to start! If you get your Master's ASAP (which I really should have done if I wasn't busy taking my sweet time), the pay bumps get pretty sweet. I'm not at the top bracket of the pay scale and my pay is set to be ~$51/hour this year, give or take.
     Don't get me wrong - I still feel underpaid because I can't move out on my own without absolutely hamstringing my budget or living with more roommates than I think a contributing member of society should have to live with. That's besides the point, though - then we're getting into how I feel about society overall and how screwed we let ourselves get. To stay on topic, I maintain that teachers are not wildly underpaid relative to other professions (define "wildly" as you please). & there's something else I haven't even gotten to.
     Notice - I haven't even mentioned the breaks. The glorious, glorious breaks! To make a long story short, I feel like I work 75% of the time for 80% of the pay. I know that's not the truth of it (especially when compared to the engineers, financiers, and other white collar workers of Silicon Valley), but compared to ... everyone else? It's mandatory work-life balance, with an option to work OT if you're a go-getter (summer school, coaching, subbing for other classes). If that's not a hell of a trade-off, I don't know what is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
     Now my friends might not have summer off for us to enjoy together, but that's a workplace issue that y'all need to figure out - other folks in different countries don't let themselves get absolutely shafted when it comes to taking leave. Guess it's an American thing to be proud of letting your employer bone you? You can come at me and say anything you want about being entitled - and all I really have to say is, you're going to bat for a lower quality of life. In 2019, with the absolute laundry list of tech advancements since the Industrial Revolution (or how about just the past 3 decades?)?! I'm sorry, but if you want a hard life for yourself for the sake of a hard life, your vision is just too small for humanity. I see a world where challenge is self-directed, not society-inflicted.
     It may sound naive of me to say that, but take an honest look around - in a world where we can produce as much as we produce, and waste as much as we waste, do you really think the shackles that prevent us from living our best lives are not imposed on us by society (vs. natural resources and technological limitations)?
     That ended up being a lot longer than I expected, so I guess this will turn into a series. Thanks for reading!