Why So Many Teachers Moonlight & Start Businesses
I Got Schooled…
Update: Video and two reference links for Teacher Salary Project are added at the end of the post.
Contents
- Post
- Quick Quiz: Teaching Fact or Fiction & Answers
- References Press Release
- Entrepreneurial Teachers & Related Issues
The title of filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan’s latest book on school reform also accurately describes what I learned when I took a close look at the economics of teaching from an entrepreneurial viewpoint.
It’s no secret that teachers are poorly paid. But I suspect that many people do not stop to think about what that reality means in the daily lives of educators. And the cost to society overall. Previously, Jonathan Kozol’s essay Savage Inequalities assigned for a social policy class in 2009 was my primary point of view as was Morgan Spurlock’s Inside Man on Education and the little girl who began to cry when informed she’d have to undergo more testing at school. And of course my fond and not so fond memories as a student.
But what I recently discovered is that personal experience limits understanding of a large, complex problem. Activists in the field of education present compelling arguments but often focus on students…one part of the elephant in the room. The problems viewed through a business lens are primarily one of ineffective infrastructure and longstanding historical issues yet to be addressed.
Consider these words spoken during an episode of a popular ’60s western set in the mid-1800s. Outlaw Frank Coulter revealed why he’d changed his occupation.
“I was a schoolteacher tasked with educating the children…and I was held in high esteem, but the decent people paid me 30 cents a day and one day, I’d had enough…” – Frank Coulter
Today, philosophical and political differences continue to bring overall positive change at glacial speed. And the bureaucracy continues to ignore the math, spending more than 7 billion dollars annually to replace teachers who burn out from low salaries and overwork, according to the National Commission on Teaching. The popular notion that teachers have the summer off to work is a myth.
Many educators work second jobs after school during the academic year. While the infrastructure turns slowly, there are bills to pay, incidentals, such as school supplies, rent, food, health insurance, and student loans. In some cases graduate students in the teaching profession attracted to the finance industry for part-time work, discover they can make far more income and leave for greener…literally… pastures, according to a Sam Houston State University professor.
Ironically, moonlighting, by its very nature stressful and time-consuming is viewed as a problem-solving solution allowing educators to continue to afford to teach… The teaching profession yields a larger number of part-time entrepreneurs than other professions, which makes sense when you consider how widespread moonlighting activity is within the profession versus the general population. But there is also the issue of entrepreneurial traits, which many good teachers possess.
Quiz
Teaching Fact or Fiction
1. True or False? In the 1960s teacher, Jonathan Kozol was fired for reading the poems of Langston Hughes to children of color
2. *In Russia Teachers, earn an annual salary of a. $48,000 b. $4,800 c. $29,700
3.**How much do teachers spend on school supplies during the year…each year?
a. $600-$2000 b. $250- $500
4. True or False IRS Rules allow nearly all expenses spent on supplies as a write-off.
Answers
1. True. Some say the resulting publicity helped propel his career as an activist.
2. b. But professors at Sam Houston point out significant differences in socio-economic policies, in Russia. For instance, health insurance is paid for by the government.
3. a. Almost $700, according to the recent Sam Houston study. But one teacher in the Parham study reportedly spent $2,000.00.
4. False. $250.00 is the maximum allowed for deductions.
*Source: Sam Houston State University researchers TSTA 2012
** Source: Sam Houston State University researchers & Parham dissertation.
References
Sam Houston State University School of Education Survey: TSTA Texas & Russia, 2012 Note: Survey conducted or the Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA)
Niche Creativity Press release – Online PR Media.com
https://onlineprnews.com/news/475783-1397016889-increase-in-teachers-schooled-in-moonlighting-entrepreneurial-tasks-inspires-new-guide.html/
Fordham.edu Savage Inequalities: Children in American Schools, Beauford, 1991, pdf.
Circumstances of Kozol’s firing on page 4.
Amazon.com Reading Between the Lines – Note: An assigned textbook with Jonathan Kozol’s work.
http://tinyurl.com/bqzj8t8
City Journal.org America’s Most Influential—and Wrongest—School Reformer
Note: Description of firing and resulting publicity starts in para. 4.
http://tinyurl.com/loszhks
Chicagoland/CNN.com
http://tinyurl.com/n2r5nok
YouTube: The Big Valley Tunnel of Gold, 1966.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M86N6DJkEE
Abc News wfaa.com: More Texas teachers moonlighting to make ends meet
http://tinyurl.com/ks7ahjn
Digitallibrary.txstate.edu
Moonlighting; A Reality for Many Public School Teachers Dissertation,
Janis Newby Parham, B.S, M.Ed…Texas December 2006
Note: Profiles of several moonlighting teachers begins on page 51.
Sobering inside look at the daily life of a teacher. Some of whom already exhibit entrepreneurial activities…one in particular. And arguably, this resource is a script in a reality TV show.
Parham’s suggestions include better and realistic career counseling
information for aspiring teachers. A good argument
could be made that reviewing this dissertation would be a good starting point.
http://tinyurl.com/lebsye3
Globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com
What Finland Can Teach America about Education
http://tinyurl.com/kbzfbpo
Insideman.blogs. cnn.com
Inside Man Morgan Spurlock
http://tinyurl.com/mbwcyzs
Texas State Teachers Association
Note: Press release discusses survey
findings from Sam Houston State University researchers.
http://www.tsta.org/sites/default/files/Moonlighting13.pdf
CNN.com
Linda DeRegnaucourt Skilled Math Teacher
in Florida Forced to Quit Beloved Career
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/US/07/20/why.quit.teacher/
Public News Service.org
Moonlight Madness for North Carolina Teachers
http://tinyurl.com/kqlfvpz
Ncpublicschools.org/pdf
North Carolina: educator effectiveness survey
and the turnover report include a list of dissatisfaction.
http://tinyurl.com/kc4mwdl
Dallas News.com
Kristie Smith…Opinion Teachers are
overworked underpaid and moonlighting
http://tinyurl.com/p8utolj
McKinsey on Society.com
Closing the talent gap: Attracting and retaining
top-third graduates to a career in teaching
http://mckinseyonsociety.com/closing-the-talent-gap/ –
See more at http://tinyurl.com/luu6ssd
National Center for Education Statistics Nces.ed.gov/pubs/pdf
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2013/2013153.pdf
Bureau of Labor Statistics.gov
New data on multiple job holding available from the CPS
http://bls.gov/mlr/1997/03/art1full.pdf
Edpolicy.org Note: Policy analysis for California education
http://www.edpolicyinca.org/
Scholastic.com/primarysources/pdfs
Note: Survey in which teachers describe ways to improve the system http://tinyurl.com/ydaldy2
CNN.com
Why one good teacher decided to quit Note: Florida math whiz leaves
beloved teaching for a nursing career.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/US/07/20/why.quit.teacher/
Nctaf.org
National Commission on Teaching Education
Note: pdf Cost of Teacher Turnover policy brief estimates
cost at more than 7 billion annually in 2003-2004.
http://tinyurl.com/lonblm2
Ashley Lewis-Cook Authorexpress.com
Note: Blog post by Texas educator: Our Teachers & Leaders
are Leaving the Profession in Record Numbers…
http://tinyurl.com/mj3hwhe
Entrepreneurial Teachers & Related Issues
Artez.nl Dance teacher as an entrepreneur
http://finals2013magazine.artez.nl/en/dance-teacher-as-entrepreneur/
So You Want to Become A Freelance Online Teacher
Niche Creativity.com http://wp.me/P3Kr4S-1dG
NYC.gov
Conflicts with teacher ventures and governmental policy.
http://tinyurl.com/lmz5bql
Edsurge.com
Arrested development when teachers
are blocked from building edtech products.
http://tinyurl.com/m46c7zn
Learnlaunchx.com
Note: Boston-based accelerators for ed-tech start-ups
names seven ed-tech startups for the 2014 accelerator program.
http://tinyurl.com/m82bpdb
Sireview.org
Stanford Social Innovation Review
Teachers and Social entrepreneurs
http://tinyurl.com/knn6eu8
Science Explorers.com
Note: Fun after school science activities
https://scienceexplorers.com/ask-jupiter-jen/
Heartland.org
Edventures Teachers/entrepreneurs
http://tinyurl.com/kccdch6
TechCrunch.com
Teachers Making Moola on the Web
http://tinyurl.com/nyh59y4
Learnlaunchx.com in the News
http://learnlaunchx.com/in-the-news/
Bioeyes
Note: Nonprofit established to teach children science using fish
http://bioeyes.org/inthenews.html
The Moonlight Attic Note: Former teacher discovered her skill at photography and creating postcards for her church was the beginning of a business
http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheMoonlightAttic
Habits of mind.org
Note: Australian teacher leaves
the classroom to start an educational company based on her “Gift of Gab.”
http://www.habitsofmind.org/resources?page=2
http://tinyurl.com/m3hrxcb http://spectrumeducation.com/portal/index.php
Diverseeducation.com
Moonlighting becomes them: college faculty
become entrepreneurs, high-priced
consultants off-campus – African Americans
http://diverseeducation.com/article/7586/
Nytimes.com New Breed of Teachers
Become Entrepreneurs & Roving Innovators,
Peter Applebome, Published: May 31, 1995
http://tinyurl.com/l5hfufl
Teacher Care.com Personal Childcare Agency Staffed by Teachers
http://www.teachercare.com/userreviews.htm
Infographic Edupreneurs: Could Teachers Become the Next Batch of Startup Entrepreneurs?
http://www.bestmastersineducation.com/edupreneurs/
SFChronicle.com
Why Do Teachers Need Side Jobs to Pay Bills?
Op-ed by Ninive Calegari
http://tinyurl.com/pnnm2xq
The Teacher Salary Project.org
Infographic
Short Videos
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wr6pmSquvw?feature=oembed&w=1200&h=675]