Scholarships: You get what you pay for? RANT

[Harlock]

So I'm watching the news last night and an American Football player is being interviewed about his teams recent suckitude (Dallas Cowboys you know) and the player starts talking. Now, out of his mouth comes some of the worst grammar and pronunciation I have ever heard! He actually said the word frustrated as "fusstrated"! My wife and I turn to one another, jaws still on the ground, and begin discussing this...

This guy got a full ride to a decent and fully accredited university in the United States of America and in all that time never learned how to speak properly? And, to top that free education off the fellow makes $1.2 million a year now, not including signing bonuses and incentives.

My wife, who made straight A's all through grade school, scored high on both the ACT and SAT, and went to a smallish university in our home town because of its reputation for turning out fine educators (her majors were Education and French) got partial scholarships her first three years and by her fourth year, finally got a scholarship big enough to cover 100% of tuition and books. She ended up graduating magna cum laude and now, with 8 years of teaching under her belt makes the whopping $32k a year.

I am well aware of the fact that football, in many universities, pays a lot of bills. My problem is that the people that entertain us are granted every oppurtunity under the sun and given millions of dollars for putting on their show, while the people that educate us put up with; snotty kids, impatient and rude parents and barely scrape out a living if they have to rely on their teaching job as their soul source of income.

Shame on us for having poor priorities. When will America wake up and realize teachers, cops, fire fighters and other civil servants are true role models and deserve recognition as well as monetary compensation commensurate with such status?

 

[Crothian]

Money has to come from some where. With entertainment, people are happy to pay high ticket prices, buy the video games, and they get good return for their money. It is an apples and oranges type of thing. Entertainment generates its own money. If I don't like football, I don't have to pay anything towards it.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

There are somewhere in the range of 2.5 million public school teachers, 1 million firefighters and maybe about 1 million police officers in the U.S. (those numbers are far from verified, so I might by off). In an incredibly over-simplified example lets assume 3 million public servants for 300 million US citizens. If every citizen pays $100 in taxes towards these hard-working public servants, each one gets a salary of $10,000. To get them to be paid a sports star level salary of $1 million, each US citizen would have to pay $10,000 in taxes. There are maybe 3000 NFL players in the US, therfore all it takes is $10 per person to pay each of them $1 million.

It would be great to pay our police, firefighters and teachers what they really deserve (my wife is a teacher, so I would love it ), but the economics are not there, mostly because people are not willing to pay more in taxes, and there is no other way to get the money.

Oh, and Crothian, people who do not like football, but like beer, cars, video games and other things do pay towards football by paying for the advertising which pays for the TV contracts which is a HUGE source of cash for football. They just don't pay as much as those who attend games.

 

[Angcuru]

It sucks I know. But we live in a capitalist system, where necessary professions are paid a semi-reasonable amount because there are a lot of them, and there will always be people there to do the job. Non-necessary professions, such as football players and musicians serve to create a commodity of entertainment. People who can perform at that level of skill in whatever they do be it playing music to knocking another guy over are comparatively rare, and so are paid more.

Supply and demand. It sucks for the little guy, but it works to keep the economy going.

Now, if we paid everyone what they DESERVE as you suggest, then we would be living in a socialist system. Where most people would be paid a resonable amount, but there would be few if any people making millions of bucks. Which means that there would be little social mobility and therefore stagnation.

Plus remember that teachers are only officially at work for approximately half of the year for a shorter time than in other professions. That's what they get paid for. Not for all of the paper grading and planning they have to do. Which is work, but not officially recognized, and therefore not compensated for.

 

[Felix]

Angcuru:

I bit my tongue when I read your post, as I wanted to respond with something concerning politics and economics, but that would be out of character for the boards. Yours wasn't inflammatory, but it could lead to other posts that are.

At any rate, I quite agree with Harlock that too much of these athletes' shenanigans are tolerated, but professional sports is only the endgame of the syndrome. Tales abound of college indescretions concerning class, drugs, and women. Ever see high school athlete/delinquents let off easy because of the Big Game? How about 9 year-old peewee stars talk back to the coach without fear of reprisal? It runs much deeper than pros being overpaid, much more.

 

[drothgery]

There are maybe 3000 NFL players in the US, therfore all it takes is $10 per person to pay each of them $1 million.

1696, actually (32 teams * 53 roster spots/team). There are 750 MLB players (30 teams * 25 roster spots/team), and 360 NBA players (30 teams * 12 roster spots/team).

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Plus remember that teachers are only officially at work for approximately half of the year for a shorter time than in other professions. That's what they get paid for. Not for all of the paper grading and planning they have to do. Which is work, but not officially recognized, and therefore not compensated for.

Actually it is about 2/3 of the time other professions work "officially." Actually I think this may be the biggest issue of all for teachers. I hear so many people who say, "Teachers only work half the year, they get summers off, why do they think they should get paid better?" I make 50% more at my job that my wife does teaching, but in reality she probably works about 20% more hours per year than I do when you consider the time outside of the "official" hours. And while they do not get paid to do that extra work, you can bet your bottom that they will get fired for not performing if they do not. That is the reason that teacher's unions often use a "work to clock" program when contract negotiations break down. It is the only way to make people realize just how much more teachers really do.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

1696, actually (32 teams * 53 roster spots/team). There are 750 MLB players (30 teams * 25 roster spots/team), and 360 NBA players (30 teams * 12 roster spots/team).

Well, I was too lazy to look it up. I knew it was 32 teams and that in preseason most teams had over 100 players. I could not remember how many the final roster number was, and 3000 just made for simple math to illustrate the point - but it is close to the combined number of players in these three sports.

 

[RangerWickett]

So what if the man's fusstrated? They can ax him all the queshuns they wants; if he's tired, he's feel'n to'n up inside, so who cares whether or not he uses 'proper' grammar?

Our language is ridiculously flexible. If one man in a non-formal capacity wants to talk casually, why judge him?

 

[alsih2o]

I am well aware of the fact that football, in many universities, pays a lot of bills. My problem is that the people that entertain us are granted every oppurtunity under the sun and given millions of dollars for putting on their show, while the people that educate us put up with; snotty kids, impatient and rude parents and barely scrape out a living if they have to rely on their teaching job as their soul source of income.

The very best of any field gets paid more than the rest. Some corporate instructors and flight teachers make HUGE money.

MOST athletes earn zip. So in that regard other come out well ahead.

Not to mention he is risking never being able to earn money in his chosen field with a single misstep. One busted knee or ankle and he is watching the game, the same cannot be said for teaching.

Are you saying we should have some monitor for who gets paid what in the world? How owuld you possibly run such a program?