which is the most underpaid profession/job?

But the fact of the matter is this is simple economics. If the pay is too low for you, then don't try to work as a teacher, as there are others who WILL work as a teacher for less.

I see a lot of redditors saying things like this when it comes to salary. What you're saying isn't wrong, but I want to point out that it's only ONE of the ways that economic markets work. An alternative scenario involves school districts offering positions for high salaries instead in order to attract the best talent.

For the sake of argument, let's just say that school districts had enough money to pay teachers $250,000 a year. The best and brightest would start fighting over teaching positions overnight, and the districts would have their pick from the most outstanding candidates available.

The alternative scenario is the one you describe. Again for the sake of argument, let's just say that a district only has $25,000 to pay a teacher. Yes, it's true that "if you don't want such low pay, you should do something else, because there's always someone else willing to work for less." However, thinking like this puts the burden and the blame on the workers, and that's not where it belongs. From an economic perspective, the way to get the CHEAPEST labor is to start salaries at the bottom and see if you get any takers. If you do, you're set. If not, you raise wages a little until you get a bottom feeder.

Is that who we want for teachers? I know I don't. From an economic perspective, the way to get the BEST labor is to start salaries as high as you can possibly afford in order to attract the best talent. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen, because people don't like higher taxes, and school district administrators aren't about to give up their own high salaries in order to start attracting good talent. It's a shame, but it doesn't have to be this way.

/r/AskReddit Thread Parent