Crowds screaming for their favorite teams, announcers spitting out words faster than the game being played, and cheerleaders on the sidelines yelling cheers into the crowd. That is your average NFL football game. Yet, while all of this is going on, who is cheering for the police officers, teachers, farmers, counselors, and many more essential careers? These people shape the country we live in today, and yet they are paid little to nothing compared to professional football players.
$860,000. That is how much, on average, NFL football players make per year. Compared to any other profession or career, that amount of money is outrageous. Understandably, what they do is not easy, and it is impressive the way athletes can perform, but the same thing goes for public-sector careers.
Public-sector careers are jobs such as military, law enforcement, infrastructure, public transportation, public education, health care and those who work for the government. These people shape America. Without them, our country would not run the way it does. These people are vital to the economy, and yet they are paid very little compared to men who run around with a football. I know that football is not an easy task, and it is an impressive sport, but it is not mandatory.
The average salary for a police officer in Idaho is roughly $60,000 per year, according to data on Indeed. Consider that for a moment. The people who keep you safe and risk their lives daily to benefit strangers get paid less than football players. They train for years to become police officers to help protect the public.
Teachers must complete at least four years worth of college to become qualified to teach. Without teachers, there would be nothing. No one to educate. There would be nothing for the younger generations to feed off of. They are the reason you can go to college and make money in a career, yet they have one of the lowest-paying jobs.
The top earners in public school teaching only take home around $55,000 a year, according to statistics on ZipRecruiter. That is roughly six percent of what the average football player earns every year.
“Being a teacher in the public sector, I understand that there is not enough money to pay what I might be worth. I accept that and understand that,” said Dr. John Rockett, a science teacher at Lakeland High School. “Being a teacher is more of a calling, not something you go into with the result of becoming rich. You go into it with the result to help society and help young people grow and educate them to be better positioned as adults.”
Teachers know what they are going to get paid, and they still choose to do it. They do not enter this career for the money but for the good of the human population’s education.
Imagine not having the medical supplies we do today. Without teachers who taught engineers and scientists to create medical devices, we would live in a world without them. The medical field, industrial field, and anything you can think of would not be possible without teachers. So why are they paid so little, and why are football players paid so much?
Football players get paid as much as they do because, in a way, that is how much they are worth. They are paid based on things like how much money they bring in. This counts for things like entertainment, how many fans players can bring into a stadium, or how much people buy their merchandise.
While football players might be worth money, they should not be able to make 275 million dollars over five years. That is 55 million dollars per year. Football players should be making a lot of money, but there should be a cap on how much money that is.
“I’d say a maximum would be 20 million dollars,” Lakeland football coach Mike Schroeder said.
Teachers are paid the way they are because the education system is heavily underfunded in the United States. Teachers have not received a salary increase in a very long time, which is a huge problem. If you factor in things like even living expenses, it can be very difficult to live off of the money they make now, especially considering that teaching is not a year-round profession.
Teachers should be paid the average that NFL players are paid.
“Police officers and teachers, etc., including public and state jobs that serve the community, need to be paid more. A lot more,” Schroeder said.
If teachers and police officers decided one day that they no longer wanted to put up with how much money they were making and decided to refuse to teach, it would affect not only them but the rest of the world. It is key that the government figures out a way to pay teachers and public sector jobs the money that they deserve for the services they continuously provide.
