Teachers deserve more appreciation

By: Emily Gray

In our society, it’s no secret that teachers don’t get paid very much money. According to salary.com, a publicschool teacher in Olathe is paid $57,442 annually, but that amount depends on degrees, experience, and what grade level is being taught. The higher the grade, the more money teachers tend to make, but even the difference between an elementary teacher and a high school teacher is small, only about $2,000. It has been pounded into our heads since kindergarten that an education is the most important thing that we can accomplish as human beings. Even before the pandemic it was clear that teachers were not getting paid enough and not receiving the amount of respect they deserve, but with COVID-19 it has been made even more obvious how hard the teachers work and what they are willing to sacrifice for their students.

This year especially has been difficult on everyone who is a part of the education system, whether that is students, teachers, or administrators.

Junior Rowan Farha thinks that the pandemic has been especially hard on teachers.

“[It] has definitely made the teaching job harder than it already was. Everyone in the school system and all over have gone through so much in the past year, but teachers are constantly having to change what they’re doing to accommodate safety concerns and new learning modes,” Farha stated.

Senior Jaxon Gilner has the same thoughts.

“The teachers now have to struggle through technology issues and find various methods to communicate with students because they are not able to see us every day in class to fix any confusion,” Gilner said.

Not only are teachers struggling with the pandemic and all of the challenges that come with that, they are still having to grade and create lesson plans outside of school. It is not often thought about how much outside work goes into teaching, yet most teachers are taking work home with them in order to prepare for

the next class period.

Senior Michela Reiss believes that students have been oblivious to the time teachers put in outside of school.

“I think that a lot of times it’s easy to focus on the grade or on what you feel that a teacher is doing wrong, but the amount of work they all put in to make sure that all their students learn everything they’re going to need to know isn’t something that’s as obvious

to us,” Reiss stated.

Senior Karen Morales feels that we, as a community, should be more understanding towards teachers.

“Not only are teachers underpaid, but society often undermines

the occupation and the importance of the job. Teachers greatly impact students in a variety of ways. Being a teacher isn’t just about showing students how to write an essay or use the Pythagorean theorem. Teachers inspire students to become the best version of themselves,” Morales said.

Students, please take this as a message to say “thank you” to your teachers. They have been putting in extra effort every day in order to make sure that their students are getting the education they need, especially during this troubling time of the pandemic. They have been struggling as much as we have and they deserve our appreciation.