It takes 10-20 years for a public school teacher to make at least $100,000 a year in salary.
It takes less than a second for a stock broker to make millions if their timing is right.
Teachers guide and grow hearts and minds yet get paid a sliver of what people who grow money in the stock markets get paid. Most of us educators are content also because we reap what we sow… and that is worth more than millions in the bank.
Teachers bring their hearts to work and consider how to reach individuals deep inside hoping to positively disrupt and steer children and adults in healthy ways, yet they are recompensed with low-pay and long hours of work. Taking summers off is actually time for them to recoup their energy. It is an emotionally taxing job.
I am self-employed so I don’t take any time off. I usually work Christmas day (thankful for it), the first day of the year, and if I can muster it, seven days a week. I can’t do enough. Many educators feel like this to a degree. We deeply care about those we teach and learn from. Our work is not just work, but a special duty we do for the community at large, regardless of how the community validates us or our work. It matters not to me that I actually work for free most of the time. I know God is watching and I am thankful for what He has done and continues to do for me in my life. My work is gratitude for the blessings I recognize that rain down on me on a daily basis. Of course, this dynamic taxes me to the hilt, yet I do sleep at ease (usually).
What more can I do? I see that I am talented and effective in reaching and transforming hearts. With no agenda, like the armies of teachers across America and the globe, I wake up everyday thinking and feeling how I am going to be even greater in my ability to be a positive influence in the lives of my students.
I take my hat off to all clinical teachers who wear their heart on their sleeve. You are a gajillionare in my book, irrespective of how much you get paid. Your worth is not represented by the pay afforded to you.
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