What ? I made no comment as to what they should be paid . I simply stated what they are paid , as you seemed to disagree with the comment above . But $ 51 , 000 a year with three months vacation each year , health insurance , solid pension , solid job security , etc . is a pretty good gig , especially since it just takes a bachelor ' s and some night courses to get a teaching certificate where I am . $ 51 , 000 is around the national median household income , so I think it ' s hard to argue they ' re paid poorly all things considered , at least where I am . It may not be a great job , but there are certainly plenty of harder jobs that get paid less . Everyone just happens to be familiar with this one , as we ' ve all been to school .