Some American public schools are turning to foreign teachers because Americans with college educations are increasingly uninterested in low-paid, demanding teaching jobs. Many teachers, struggling for a toehold in the shrinking middle class, have switched careers. And fewer college students are choosing to become teachers. The need for mathematics, science, and special education teachers is especially dire in poor and rural schools throughout the country.
The job Americans won't take: Arizona looks to Philippines to fill teacher shortage
I smell bullshit.
I looked up average teacher salary in Arizona it is $48,000 a year. That is about the same it is in my state. A lot of people would cut off their right arm for that salary especially with summers off and great benefits. $48,000 low pay lol. Your college grad walmart worker or restaurant worker would be laughing off his head who is making not even half that salary ! I know a lot of low income workers and grads with Education degrees who would love that salary. If there is such a shortage there for teachers I will transfer my SPED license to there but I am skeptical of what is claimed is in reality the complete opposite. They say in my state they have all kinds of teacher shortages too in the newspaper when in fact they are oversaturated with qualified candidates. There are way more teaching degrees and licenses awarded then there are available teaching jobs. I have gone on like 30+ interviews over 7 years trying to land a teaching job, settling for low pay subbing and paraprofessional jobs instead. I finally switched to truck driving after 7 years of failure to land a teaching job, many of my classmates are in the same boat. I would go for teaching interviews there would be like 20+ people they were interviewing. All with teaching degrees and licenses. Many applicants had a leg up on me previous years of teaching experience, but got laid off or fired at last teaching job. So the teacher with 10+ yrs of experience gets hired over the guy with no teaching experience trying to get some.
I don't know where you looked up that salary average but I can tell you most public school teachers that I know in Arizona (at least Tucson) don't make 48K. I'd say 35-40K is more typical. Now school administrators especially in the big districts make WAY more than that some into 6 figures.
Still 35-40k a year with benefits and summer's off is really good money for a lot of Americans that they can only dream about making. Especially low wage college grads stuck in low paying jobs that pay minimum wage. That's how it was for me for 7 years while I was looking for teaching jobs, but despite all the interviews could not land a teaching job. I was living out of a broken down trailer with no heat or air conditioning. I finally gave up and went into trucking.
Those summers off are UNPAID! School districts would go bankrupt trying to pay teachers an hourly wage, so they don't!
You get paid for when you work and sometimes not even then! Parent- teacher conferences? Unpaid. Faculty meetings? Unpaid. Professional development? Unpaid.
If you think it is such a great deal, become a teacher and maybe you will find out what working a job where being out sick increases your workload so much you'd rather go to work and be miserable than stay home and get better.
Lol so that's still 30 to 40k in salary a teacher is getting that is the difference between a salary employee vs an hourly one. So what not getting paid over summer still getting 30 to 40k yr.
Many professions are salary that have a lot of unpaid time. A relative of mine only makes like 30k a yr as a manager and since he is salary he has a lot of time that is unpaid and he doesn't have the luxury of having summers off. Many tech support jobs are 30 to 40k yr salary not paid hourly and you are on call 24/7 and have to work way more than 40hrs a week more like 60hrs or more. No summers off. No teachers have it a lot easier than other professions.
I tried landing a teaching job for 7 yrs with my teaching license couldn't get out of low wage work so I became a truck driver. My home is my truck never home . I would be a teacher over this in a heartbeat, but can't land a teaching job so I have no other option if I want be in the 30 to 40k yr job. Teachers honestly don't know how much better they have it than a lot of people.