School Daze

I've been listening to Lou Dobbs bloviate about high school graduation rates and public education in general. The funny thing that never comes up is teacher salary rates and teacher retention. I just looked at a survey of salaries in my area. With a Master's degree, you can start in the local schools at about $40,000/year, not bad by national standards. But this is one of the most expensive places to live in the country. Instead of getting a Master's in education, you can go to law school and pick up a JD and start at $150,000 as a first year associate with the K Street firms. If I were finishing undergraduate school and deciding what to do next, which one do you think I'd choose, hmmm? That Master's in education looks even smaller when you've got $30-40K of school loans to pay off on a teacher's salary.

The average home price in Fairfax County, Virginia, just hit a half mil. Think you'd qualify for an 80% mortgage on a teacher's salary?

Half of all teachers quit in the first five years. How are we supposed to crank out a quality product with an inexperienced teacher cadre? How come you never talk about that, Lou Dobbs?