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Teachers vs. Professional Athletes
(Disclaimer: I am a college instructor of mathematics.)
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 30 years, you probably know that professional athletes are well compensated for their time at work. You also probably know that teachers, as a whole, are not as well compensated (at least in comparison to the aforementioned athletes). My question is, why do athletes command such a premium salary while professors and teachers toil in relative poverty (slight exaggeration perhaps, yes).
There are a few basic arguments that people use to defend athletes’ high salaries. The most common argument is that professional sports bring in a lot of money, and therefore, the players deserve their fair share of the profit – which in turn, leads to the high salaries. Although that is true, that line of reasoning doesn’t hold up for any other profession, so why should it for sports? For instance, gas companies have made a killing lately, but that doesn’t mean that the guy who comes out in the rain to pump gas into your car for you is seeing any extra pay (after all, he’s part of the company, doesn’t he deserve his fair share?) In regards to education, many colleges have also made a killing recently. Harvard had assets worth $25.5 billion (yes, BILLION) in 2005, a 15% gain over the previous year. Shouldn’t the professors at Harvard see some of that money, after all, aren’t they part of the proverbial “team”?
The other common argument used to defend players’ salaries is that players are under the public microscope. That’s certainly true, players’ actions are videotaped and aired on SportsCenter. Their off field activities are also tracked and reported on by various tabloids and entertainment magazines. Certainly teachers don’t have that to worry about, correct?
False. Professors also have their actions tracked and reported for the public to see. Almost all professors are required to have public web pages which detail their work history, classes taught, research, etc. Besides that, today’s professors also have their own version of entertainment magazines and tabloids with sites like ratemyprofessor.com. Ratemyprofessor allows students (or anyone for that matter) to leave anonymous comments about a professor. Each professor is graded on ease, clarity, helpfulness and can even earn little “chili peppers” indicating how “hot” they are. I don’t have any problem with the site (I actually look at my own comments occasionally out of curiosity), but I also refuse the notion that professors don’t lead a public, sometimes unfairly judged life.
Finally, I hear that teachers get summers off and therefore don’t deserve any more money. For collegiate professors, that is often false. Many professors teach summer courses or work with students doing research all summer. In addition, professors work on their lessons, syllabi, exams, labs, research, meetings, etc during the summer months…much in the same way a professional ballplayer lifts weights, reads playbooks, etc during his or her offseason.
Now, the logical question is why aren’t professors better paid? Once again, it goes back to public perception (and, in many ways, back to historical prejudices). After all, it used to be that women were the main educators…which meant that teachers’ pay didn’t need to match up with the rest of society.
I am interested in hearing other peoples’ thoughts on the subject. I realize that most of us think we ought to be paid more for our time (that’s human nature I suppose)…but is the discrepancy between teacher pay and athlete pay good for our society? After all, it cannot be a good sign for society that whenever I tell people I am a teacher they usually respond with something like “why are you wasting your talents in the education field” or “you do know you could earn a lot more money doing mathematics in the business sector”. What do you think? Is this the beginning of the end for the American education system? (My personal research into mathematics education suggests that we are falling behind the world a lot quicker than many of our politicians would like us to believe.)
[u]Sources[/u]:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13924610/
http://www.claybennett.com/images/archivetoons/teacher_pay2.jpg
(Disclaimer: I am a college instructor of mathematics.)
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 30 years, you probably know that professional athletes are well compensated for their time at work. You also probably know that teachers, as a whole, are not as well compensated (at least in comparison to the aforementioned athletes). My question is, why do athletes command such a premium salary while professors and teachers toil in relative poverty (slight exaggeration perhaps, yes).
There are a few basic arguments that people use to defend athletes’ high salaries. The most common argument is that professional sports bring in a lot of money, and therefore, the players deserve their fair share of the profit – which in turn, leads to the high salaries. Although that is true, that line of reasoning doesn’t hold up for any other profession, so why should it for sports? For instance, gas companies have made a killing lately, but that doesn’t mean that the guy who comes out in the rain to pump gas into your car for you is seeing any extra pay (after all, he’s part of the company, doesn’t he deserve his fair share?) In regards to education, many colleges have also made a killing recently. Harvard had assets worth $25.5 billion (yes, BILLION) in 2005, a 15% gain over the previous year. Shouldn’t the professors at Harvard see some of that money, after all, aren’t they part of the proverbial “team”?
The other common argument used to defend players’ salaries is that players are under the public microscope. That’s certainly true, players’ actions are videotaped and aired on SportsCenter. Their off field activities are also tracked and reported on by various tabloids and entertainment magazines. Certainly teachers don’t have that to worry about, correct?
False. Professors also have their actions tracked and reported for the public to see. Almost all professors are required to have public web pages which detail their work history, classes taught, research, etc. Besides that, today’s professors also have their own version of entertainment magazines and tabloids with sites like ratemyprofessor.com. Ratemyprofessor allows students (or anyone for that matter) to leave anonymous comments about a professor. Each professor is graded on ease, clarity, helpfulness and can even earn little “chili peppers” indicating how “hot” they are. I don’t have any problem with the site (I actually look at my own comments occasionally out of curiosity), but I also refuse the notion that professors don’t lead a public, sometimes unfairly judged life.
Finally, I hear that teachers get summers off and therefore don’t deserve any more money. For collegiate professors, that is often false. Many professors teach summer courses or work with students doing research all summer. In addition, professors work on their lessons, syllabi, exams, labs, research, meetings, etc during the summer months…much in the same way a professional ballplayer lifts weights, reads playbooks, etc during his or her offseason.
Now, the logical question is why aren’t professors better paid? Once again, it goes back to public perception (and, in many ways, back to historical prejudices). After all, it used to be that women were the main educators…which meant that teachers’ pay didn’t need to match up with the rest of society.
I am interested in hearing other peoples’ thoughts on the subject. I realize that most of us think we ought to be paid more for our time (that’s human nature I suppose)…but is the discrepancy between teacher pay and athlete pay good for our society? After all, it cannot be a good sign for society that whenever I tell people I am a teacher they usually respond with something like “why are you wasting your talents in the education field” or “you do know you could earn a lot more money doing mathematics in the business sector”. What do you think? Is this the beginning of the end for the American education system? (My personal research into mathematics education suggests that we are falling behind the world a lot quicker than many of our politicians would like us to believe.)
[u]Sources[/u]:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13924610/
http://www.claybennett.com/images/archivetoons/teacher_pay2.jpg
I will be overseas for about 10 days, so it may be awhile before I have a chance to approve your comments. Rest assured I will read (and approve) them as soon as possible... I'm interested in hearing what you have to say!
ReplyDeleteI hear you. The only thing that bugs me is that people get upset about the athletes, but never wonder how much the person paying the athletes is taking in.
ReplyDeleteHere are some thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that Professors - a much different animal that K-12 Teachers - don't earn more because as a group the expectation for earning is less and quite simply they'll work for less. If en mas professors expected to earn more and didn't work for less you'd see a shift.
There is also the concept of tenure which doesn't truly exist many other places, which has to also be considered in a column called "compensation." You can't spend it, but it's a guarantee.
Nice work Chris.
Supply and demand plays a huge part in it. Most college professors -- and I'm not trying to disparage your profession -- can be replaced with someone of similar skills for the same (or possibly lower salaries. The guy who pumps gas can be replaced even easier. Don't want to work for $7/hour in the rain? Fine, we'll find someone who will.
ReplyDeleteThe reason Alex Rodriguez makes $25 million a year is because there aren't many people in the world capable of hitting .300 with 40-50 home runs every year. If there were, demand for A-Rod's services would go down and he wouldn't be able to command as high a salary.
I'd also be interested to know exactly how Harvard made its $25 billion last year and what role the professors directly played in it. Even if a major sports franchise brings in a billion dollars, it doesn't mean that the guy who works the concession stand was as vital to that money coming in as the team's star hitter or quarterback, even though they're both "part of the team."
My evaluation review is based on the outrageous salaries of pro athletes in comparison to the salaries of teachers. I found that professional athletes can make as much as $30 million (or more) for one year. At the same time teachers are working around the clock and grossing less than $50 thousand dollars a year. Is this wrong or right. I say it is wrong, I feel that athletes are for entertainment only and teachers hold a higher purpose by educating students of the past and the future. So the question is, who is more valuable those men and women who entertain us on television, in stadiums, arenas and field's or the men and women who educate these athletes throughout their academic career, which intern allows them to make it to the big time. Because in order to make it through high school a diploma is required, graduation from high school leads to college where most professional recruiters draft their prospects for a variety of professional sport teams. I personally know two teachers and I have seen the struggle that these low salaries have put these teachers through. Having to live paycheck to paycheck and fight to pay the bills and put food on the table. Professional Athletes may struggle financially in college in order to make it to the big time but teachers will work 40 plus years and not be able to earn any near what a professional athlete makes during one season of employment. So next times you sit down to watch a pro sport like football, baseball, hockey etc. just think about how lucky the men and women must be to earn such outstanding salaries.
ReplyDelete