Should college students (yes undergraduates) help sub to ease teacher shortage?

[tolbs17]

I'll go with yes because even the New Mexico governor had to help substitute a classroom to combat the shortage. And most of the shortage was covid related of where there had been a ton of positive cases.

So I don't think it would bite to have all college students help substitute in all grade schools to combat the shortage!

[7/8]

No, pay people more and they'll work! Wages have been falling short of rising productivity for several decades, and the recent "labour shortages" are finally a chance at a small correction in the workers' favour. Not sure how accurate this is, but my quick search suggests the average teacher pay in NM is $55 370 (link). I make almost as much at my engineering job after only 3 years post graduating (and no licence yet!), and honestly, I think controlling a class full of kids is a lot harder than people give credit for. If we value education, we should paying teachers good wages to encourage good teachers to join/stay in the profession.

A lot of jobs where people are helping he public (ex: teachers, nurses, paramedics, etc.) are unpaid on the basis that the workers will work for crap pay and benefits out of a duty to the public. Hopefully things are finally changing in that regard.

[JayhawkCO]

Minimum salary for teachers should be $75K a year.  Lots of people who would really like to be teachers don't go into the field because of the lack of pay.  Add to that that you're working 60+ hours a week minimum, what we pay teachers is damn near criminal.

[Mapmikey]

I'll go with yes because even the New Mexico governor had to help substitute a classroom to combat the shortage. And most of the shortage was covid related of where there had been a ton of positive cases.

So I don't think it would bite to have all college students help substitute in all grade schools to combat the shortage!

You know that college and public schools are in session pretty much the same time, yes?

Teacher shortages, especially in rural areas, is not new.  When I was in college (late 1980s) South Carolina had a program for trying to get education majors to teach in rural areas.

Most state employees in any field are underpaid.  In my field the State Director in charge of that endeavor is paid in the same neighborhood of someone in the outside world with little experience.  Also state employees frequently go years at atime with no raises at all.

The federal government is a little better.  Trades people are still underpaid but people in white collar jobs are paid closer to the private sector.  Government doctors and lawyers are underpaid relative to what they could get in private practice.  Annual cost-of-living raises are much more regular.

Public service (government jobs) is usually touted as something people do out of love of country/state/citizens.  A sizable portion of people get their initial experience in their field in a civil service job then after a few years move on to better paying opportunities in the private sector.  Given the trend for younger people to change jobs way more often than previous generations, this trend will continue and lifers like me will become fairly rare.

[formulanone]

I could have sworn the OP just started a thread that nobody should be teaching before the age of 30.

[7/8]

I could have sworn the OP just started a thread that nobody should be teaching before the age of 30.

Well of course, college students will teach students, then graduate college and lose their job until they turn 30.

[SectorZ]

Most state employees in any field are underpaid.

I wish that was true in my state...

[formulanone]

I could have sworn the OP just started a thread that nobody should be teaching before the age of 30.

Well of course, college students will teach students, then graduate college and lose their job until they turn 30.

That's an interesting job carousel, though I think there will be a few Runners finding work in the underground.

[tchafe1978]

https://www.nbc15.com/2022/01/27/eligible-uw-platteville-education-students-will-serve-substitute-teachers-address-shortage/

This is actuallly a real proposal in Wisconsin. Anything that helps the situationgo for it. And I'm sure the college students will get paid just like any other substitute.

[kkt]

No.  Teaching is not such an easy thing that you can walk right into a classroom and do something useful.  Most teachers get a MA in education.  The coursework that most teachers get does teach some useful things, multiple ways to teach the same material because different students react well to different approaches.  The typical second year of the MA program is all assistant teaching under an experienced teacher in a real classroom.

Yes, teachers should be paid more.  Teaching is a way to complete a BA and a MA and still get less than $40K a year starting salary - so they're still living with roommates unless they're married or cohabiting with someone making more money than they are.

Teaching can be emotionally rewarding, but that's not a substitute for being paid enough to pay both their rent and food, and student loans of course.

Getting the pandemic under control will help a lot too.  I don't see how anyone can say the schools will not be superspreaders if they open now.  The rooms are crowded, the halls are crowded when classes are changing, lunchrooms are crowded and if the kids are at school for 6-7 hours a day they're going to need to take their masks off and eat or drink sometime.

[Scott5114]

In Oklahoma, meanwhile, the governor signed an executive order a couple weeks back making it so that any state employee can serve as a substitute teacher. Which was roundly criticized because state employees, y'know, have jobs they need to be doing, and if they have so much downtime they can be reassigned to sub without it causing problems, that position should probably be eliminated anyway...

Just imagine. Come to Oklahoma, where your children can learn spelling and capitalization from ODOT.

[SectorZ]

In Oklahoma, meanwhile, the governor signed an executive order a couple weeks back making it so that any state employee can serve as a substitute teacher. Which was roundly criticized because state employees, y'know, have jobs they need to be doing, and if they have so much downtime they can be reassigned to sub without it causing problems, that position should probably be eliminated anyway...

Just imagine. Come to Oklahoma, where your children can learn spelling and capitalization from ODOT.

Living in the state that has the (allegedly) #1 public schools in the USA and close to the state that is #2, and in seeing some of the dumb stuff both states can do, I always wondered what the bottom half in public education were like. Then I see this sign, and get my answer.

[J N Winkler]

In Kansas, people with high-school diplomas (no GEDs, but no requirement to be in college) have just now been allowed to serve as substitute teachers.  However, this is a covid emergency measure and few pretend it represents good policy.

[GaryV]

Michigan allows bus drivers and lunch ladies to be subs.  I guess they do have to have a HS diploma.  But if they're school employees, they are eligible.

[skluth]

You don't need a degree to be a substitute teacher in most places. Often, it's only two years of college and some districts don't even require that.

I'm still surprised so many people don't realize the worker shortage right now is going to continue. Those who quit their jobs since the Covid-19 invasion have moved on to other things. Many have found better and/or better-paying jobs. Quite a few have joined the gig economy; this is less about Uber and DoorDash than writing, consulting, and Etsy.

Two things have to change to improve the teacher situation, better pay and less abuse. The pay is probably less important than the abuse. Abuse from students who can't be disciplined under current conditions. Abuse from parents who consider teachers nothing more than glorified babysitters. Abuse from school boards who don't supply staff with the needed equipment to properly teach. Abuse from voters who somehow think that a salary for what is often well over 40 hours/week plus continuing education requirement classes taken over the summer don't amount to a full time job. Stop the abuse and you'll find teachers in most cases.

[andrepoiy]

I wouldn't mind. I think I could comfortably teach math up to Gr 8 for instance. I've also had a bit of experience tutoring so I'd be interested if this was an opportunity (for part time)

[Road Hog]

I subbed while I was in college. Most they paid at the time was $50 a day. Some schools were better than others. I found other side gigs and got away from it long ago, but I might get back into it someday.

[NWI_Irish96]

I subbed while I was in college. Most they paid at the time was $50 a day. Some schools were better than others. I found other side gigs and got away from it long ago, but I might get back into it someday.

I subbed my last two years of college. There were always a couple weeks over winter break and then a couple weeks after the spring semester ended where I didn't have classes by my HS did and I subbed a lot.

In grad school, all of the classes I was both taking and teaching were M-W-F classes so I subbed a lot of Tuesdays and Thursdays.