I can remember the first time that I ever asked my Dad — who was a foreman at a Chevy plant that made rear axles for pickup trucks — how much money he made in a year. It was the mid-1980s and I was working on a project for school.
His answer: $50,000.
From that moment, $50,000 became a target to me.
If I could make $50,000, I knew that I could support a family and have a good home and go on vacations and send my kids to college. If I could make $50,000, I could be a good provider and a good husband — something that mattered to me after having watched my father do those things for our family.
Doing my taxes yesterday, I realized that I made $54,000 last year.
After 22 years of full-time classroom teaching, after earning a master’s degree and after earning certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards TWICE, I’m FINALLY making what my father made in the mid-1980s.
#sheeshchat
#completelybrokechat
#anyonehiringchat
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The Truth about North Carolina’s Historic Pay Raises for Teachers
