I recently rediscovered a comedy skit that I had seen last summer. It’s basically a parody of ESPN’s SportCenter (that’s a sports news show for anyone who didn’t know). In this video, instead of reporting on pro sports, the comedians talk about “the latest developments in the exciting world of pro teaching.” In this academic utopian world the best teachers can earn annual salaries in the tens of millions of dollars and actually star in commercials for the new BMW 6 Series. I think it’s a video worth watching so I’m not going to ruin any more of it (the link will be posted below).
I decided to advertise for this video because I think it relates to our discussion about money and particularly about professors’ salaries. Someone mentioned in class (I think it was Xavier) that teachers are the ones who are really down in the trenches and doing a significant amount of the work in preparing students for the future, yet they don’t receive the credit they deserve. I think this video, in an exaggerated manner, displays how much we should value quality teachers and professors and the difference they can make.
I don’t want to sound like too much of a kiss-up so I’m going to end my post here. This is the link to video, I encourage all to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkHqPFbxmOU
I like this video. It’s very ironic. I especially liked the line when they announced a calculus teacher as the teacher pick and they said that he had an unbelievable story with “his father living from pay check to pay check as a humble pro football player.” It really never occurred to me that this may happen in reality but with teachers (not pro football players) living pay check to pay check, working hard so their children could have a better future. Really the teachers should be getting better salaries being that they are the ones that are preparing future generations for making critical decisions in all aspects of our lives.
Thanks for this post, Jason. It makes really good use of humor to make an important point about the relative value of education and athletics in our country. But I have to admit I do drive a Beamer (but only a 3 series).
Thanks for this post, Jason. It makes really good use of humor to make an important point about the relative value of education and athletics in our country. But I have to admit I do drive a Beamer (but only a 3 series).
What’s promising is that other countries (mostly in that acclaimed Scandinavian region) have more of an appreciative culture for teachers. There, it’s not so uncommon for teachers to have salaries equivalent to those of doctors, lawyers, and other careers deemed more ‘successful,’ ‘honorable,’ and ‘worthwhile’ in the United States (and probably also our other fellow English-speaking countries). And when you hear that this attitude towards teachers actually exists, it makes total sense. As Norma said, teachers are given the great power to actually change and better lives from a very young age; if not treated as such respectable and powerful individuals, they sink into this role of a sort of glorified babysitter. But how do you even change an entire cultures, or multiple cultures?