There are a million things worse than the following, but this bothering me so much.
“She adjusted the waistband of her low-slung jeans and took her place at the front of the throng waiting on the platform.”
“She had straight shoulders with a tiny waist cinched in with a narrow belt, her shirt tucked into a snug pair of jeans.”
How can you use a belt to cinch in your tiny waist if you are wearing low-slung jeans? Huh? How does that work? Is the belt not attached to the jeans? What is your character wearing, Liberty Adams?
This points to the author probably not wearing women’s clothing regularly.
Later on the dude thinks it’s utterly ridiculous that a teacher could earn the same as a coal miner. But… don’t they? And how is that ridiculous? The writing seems to assume that the reader will agree.
How much does a Teacher make in the United States? The average Teacher salary in the United States is $61,612 as of , but the salary range typically falls between $53,862 and $71,172. (From salary . Com)
Teachers assistants on the other hand are often in the low 30k
Depends on the state! (Relative to other professions, cost of living etc)
My reasonably informed guess is that in states with coal mining, unionized miners make much more than teachers, even in places where they are unionized.
Everything I know about coal miners I learned from old country songs and tales of hardship so I assumed they don’t make much. I’m aware that teachers in red states also don’t make much.
When I worked in a coal mine, we made money for the area, but black lung and guaranteed back problems and hearing loss were part of the higher comp calculus
This is why benefits should always be considered as part of total compensation! (Me doing teacher salary research for a living in a past life and also sending condolences about your black lung)
Ehhhhh, I have an acquaintance who has been teaching at the high school level for >20 years, has two Masters degrees, and JUST started making more than $50k/year. Colorado (and especially Colorado Springs/Pueblo) is toward the bottom of the list of teacher compensation vs cost of living, so I’m sure some teachers are better off, but I think that is pretty crappy as an anecdote.
ETA - The Colorado.teach.org website says the 2020 starting salary for a teacher averaged $35,292, and the average school teacher salary in 2021 was $60,611.
In Florida the average statewide was $49k in 2020. Divided up by county, high average was $59k (rich coastal Florida), low average was $38k (rural north Florida). They don’t specify which average they are using, but I assume mean, not median.
This is not part of my world, either my career in higher ed or husband’s previous one in K-12. There’s a broad part of the (mostly southern) US with no teacher’s unions.
I would just like to point out that I also have a master’s degree and have been in my position for 7 years, and the average is more than I make by a few grand. And if you have kids who live with you during the summer (mine do not), you don’t have to pay for day camp.
I will also freely admit that teaching is harder than my job (librarian) and I would not switch. I’m just saying, it is comparable to other traditionally female and undervalued professions.
OK, but should coal miners earn a different amount from teachers? Both are specialized jobs. One includes risk, the other includes higher education and a lesser degree of risk. Both are hard jobs that people should be compensated for.
Regardless of who has a worse job, both should make good pay. This isn’t a competition and pay has never been commensurate to the misery of a job. Wanting everyone to be paid well because they are doing something difficult and/or important is a pretty standard leftist stance and the book implying the concept is outrageous shows to me that it was written by someone who isn’t part of the political left.
