[caterping]

> Soldier quality is more difficult to assess

School administrations try (and fail) to determine "teacher quality" by looking at standardized test scores.

Quality of teaching is easy to assess however: you just have a few experienced teachers pop in and observe a class or two, and it's obvious to them if the teacher is good or not.

> Also, 14% isn't bad given that many teachers have 2 months off.

It's not 2 months off, it's 2 months unemployed.

When they hire you as a teacher, they ask you ahead of time if you want them to reduce your paycheck amount so that you can receive checks during those 2 months.

[georgieporgie]

It's not 2 months off, it's 2 months unemployed.

So, if there's a salaried teaching position for 50k, said teacher actually gets paid 41.6k (50k * 10/12)? Unless a stated salary is quietly reduced by 1/6, then it most certainly is two months off.

[caterping]

Teachers don't have a "yearly salary" per se ... instead, they have a number written on the contract that indicates what they'll be paid for the school year.

When someone says, "teacher $X makes $Y per year", it means that $Y is that number written on the contract for the school year.

Note, given that

* most teachers spend a couple of weeks after the school year ends tying up loose ends from the year and organizing themselves for next year,

* and then simply need time to decompress from dealing with a large number of kids every day for so long,

* and also that they spend the weeks before school begins prepping for the new year and doing professional development,

there's not really much time in between to get another full-time temporary job to supplement their income.