Teachers are one of the most important jobs, but also one of the least paying jobs. The average salary of a teacher in the United States is around $60,000. This average is greatly influenced by location in the country, the type of school, and the level of schooling of the teacher. The average cost of raising a child is around $20,000. This again is dependent on location and multiple other factors including the age of the child. 

I have spoken to many teachers varying from preschool to twelfth grade. Every teacher that I spoke to, especially those who have children, told me of the financial struggle they deal with every day.

Less than two years ago I interviewed four high school teachers and got a lot of information. When asked about their financial situation, they felt that they could support their family based on only their teaching salary, to which they all said no.

They all had a working spouse and had a second job, either as a coach at the school or as a farmer or as an independent artist or more. Several other teachers that I did not specifically interview that coach or have another job, I have also seen working a summer job as well. I do not know a single preschool through twelfth grade teacher that does not find more income to add to their teacher income. 

When a teacher’s hours do not work with coaching or another job, they must go elsewhere for additional income. In the New York Times article, written by Yaron Steinbuch, about Brianna Coppage, who is a freshman and sophomore English teacher at St. Clair High School near St. Louis, Missouri. She started an OnlyFans account to help her add to her meager salary of $42,000 per year.

Steinbuch found that her channel accumulated between $8,000 and $10,00 every month, which doubled after it was discovered by the school and put on the news. In Steinbuch’s article, she said, “students or children should have been exposed to this and I truly believe had an adult not found it, and I was told that an adult is who reported it, students never would have known.” There have been other teachers that have been found to have an OnlyFans including Courtney Tillia from Phoenix, Arizona, and Sarah Seales from South Bend, Indiana. Both teachers not only have children, but they were also put on leave or were fired.

According to Manseen Logan on Insider, in Aug. 18, 2023, “many teachers are burning out and quitting their jobs.” Logan states, “they’re putting years, and sometimes decades, of experience behind them to find less stressful work.” There have also been other cases of teachers quitting their jobs at their schools to work at Walmart or Costco.  This is not helpful with the shortage of teachers across the country. Zachary Schermele states on USA Today, “Nearly 9 in 10 public school districts struggled to hire teachers heading into the school year.”

In the coming years, this shortage will become a rather large problem. There are some parents of younger generations that are trying to keep their children from becoming teachers because they are afraid their children will have the financial troubles some teachers are currently dealing with. 

This is a problem that needs to be dealt with and soon. The teacher shortage will continue until the parents can be convinced that their children will be treated fairly for their work in this field. This cannot be done until the teachers in the United States receive a better salary. Being a teacher is a big responsibility, even though the pay does not show it.

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