In a student’s entire school career, they spend approximately 15,000 hours in school. That is about that many hours spent with a teacher, thus a student spending more of their day-to-day time with a teacher rather than their parent. Teachers are educating the next generation and teaching the future doctors, police officers, teachers, nurses, businessmen, yet they are not nearly paid as they deserve, or given enough respect.

Being at school at least eight hours a day, a teacher puts in some of the most hours in one week. Having between 150-175 students, a teacher spends at least 30 minutes grading each students essay or paper. That takes at least 75 hours outside of school that a teacher spends grading.

That time doesn’t include all the time included with parent-teacher conferences, after school meetings and everything else that their role includes.

Most teachers can be a person of trust and double as an advice giver. Many students go to their teachers when they have a problem, looking for a hug or just some words of wisdom. Teachers are so much more than just a teacher.

According to michiganradio.org, the average starting teacher salary in Michigan is $36,620. Compared to other human resource professions, teachers are paid so much less when they are doing so much more when it comes to educating the next generation.

Not to say that teachers should be paid a million dollars, but their pay surely doesn’t represent the amount of work they do. Other human resource professions are paid almost double what a teacher starts out making.

Teachers are a rare species nowadays, as less and less people want to become teachers due to the lack of pay and respect for the job. Almost every teacher will say that they don’t do it for the paycheck but because it is where they say their heart is. Teachers should be given more respect as they are educating the next generation and they therefore should be held in a higher esteem.