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From: tracy@ihuxl.UUCP (Kim)
Newsgroups: net.women,net.politics,net.social
Subject: Re: Discrimination against women (and teaching's rewards)
Message-ID: <1587@ihuxl.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 26-Jun-85 09:41:27 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihuxl.1587
Posted: Wed Jun 26 09:41:27 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 27-Jun-85 07:23:49 EDT
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Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
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>     First of all, let me say that Jim seems to be an extraordinarily well-
> qualified high school teacher - much better than any of the ones *I* had.
>     But as to the question of *why* high school teachers are paid so much
> less than MTSes as BTL, I think the answer is pretty obvious.  There are
> lots more qualified teachers ('qualified' as defined by the relevant schools)
> than there are teaching positions.  Conversely, there are a lot more jobs
> for people with the qualifications to be an MTS at BTL than there are people
> with those qualifications.  The law of supply and demand ensures that the
> equilibrium price for teachers will be low, as they are oversupplied.
>     I wish there were more people of Jim's quality in our country's high
> schools.  The way to accomplish this is *not* to diddle with the market to
> raise teacher's salaries.  It is to change the definition of 'qualified' used
> by the hiring schools.  Change it so that fewer are qualified and there
> will not be such a glut of qualified teachers.  As a consequence, the     
> equilibrium price for a teacher will have to rise.
>     I'm afraid this doesn't really have much to do with net.women, save
> that a lot of schoolteachers *are* women, in a field which is not *underpaid*,
> but *oversupplied*.
> -- 
> Jeff Sonntag
> ihnp4!mhuxt!js2j
>     "I went down to the Scrub and Rub,
>      but I had to sit in the back of the tub." - Dylan

I have to disaggree with the assumption that there is a surplus of 
teachers, especially in the more scientific fields that are likely to
become MTS's at BTL. This shortage of math and science teachers is 
at a critical level. Chiefly because of this discrepency in salary
between schools and industry, potential teachers do not become 
teachers. Speaking for myself, I could have very well became a 
teacher, but it made no sense to me to take a very severe cut in
pay. So my chief point here is that you are wrong to say that there
is an oversupply of teachers. There are more people who are 
qualified to be teachers than MTS's, and this does not imply
an abundant supply.

			Kim Tracy
			Bell Labs, Naperville, IL