When I boil it down to the number of hours I work in a year as a teacher divided by my pay (gross, not even net) I come out with a staggering low number. We’re talking less than $10 an hour. Sure, there are health and dental benefits but let’s look at those numbers.

That’s certainly not a reflection of the school where I teach. Carolina Day has an amazingly professional atmosphere of a place, perhaps the most “pro-professional” teacher school where I’ve taught. I don’t fault them for the current misaligned value that American society/cultures place on education of young people. It’s a symptom of the times.

That staggeringly low number is also not indicative of my level of education. I have a Master’s degree from Yale, a BA (Summa) from a great little “Kingdom of the Just” at Wofford College and well over 90 more hours graduate work at Gardner-Webb University and the University of South Carolina. I was South Carolina Independent Colleges and University Student of the Year in 2000 and I got to speak to the state House of Reps about funding education that Spring. I’ve spent well more than I’ll probably ever earn on educating myself. I’m also the first person in my family (on either side) to go to college.

Less than $10 an hour isn’t reflective of my experience, either. I have taught at a large public high school, two excellent independent schools (both in the middle school) as well as serving as an Adjunct Professor. I feel more than confident in handling a middle school classroom.

I’ve worked in the marketing world and made much more money per hour as a consultant, COO, SVP and publisher than I would ever make teaching. I like to blend those worlds when I create sites like student blogs and take what I’ve gained with my past marketing experience and apply it to classroom experience for my students.

So, why do I “make” less than $10 an hour?

Well, there are many variables.

It is interesting to hear the Secretary of Education speak of “new” teachers starting out at $60,000 and having the possibility to make $120,000 based on performance. Maybe that happens in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio or some state where teachers have these things called unions. It doesn’t happen in the Carolinas or for a greater part of the US.

To be honest, it hurts to look at my Yale diploma and think about what my classmates are doing to make the big bucks and how much more time I put into my own career that has seemingly come up against a glass ceiling of pay. That’s tough for a 33 year old guy living in the South.

However, I wouldn’t be doing anything else. I love what I do and that is intangible.

But would I recommend teaching as a career for other likeminded talented young men (or women… but thinking of the hardships I’ve gone through as a guy with kids in this situation)?

I honestly don’t know.

That is so sad to me. Teaching is the best and most fulfilling job in the world. There is nothing even close to teaching as a career. However, it’s hard. It’s very very hard and the pay is terrible regardless of where you teach.

So what should we do?

I really don’t know. In many ways, I feel that the low pay almost acts to keep people looking for easy money out of the profession but it also certainly doesn’t attract intelligent, vibrant young people eager to provide for their family (or have a family). Coupled with the increasingly “top-down” nature of the education industry in the US, the career also pushes away those young people eager to code, life hack and be entrepreneurial.

We need a rebirth of the teacher career in the US. What will that look like? I don’t know… I’m too institutionalized to dream it up. However, I’ll continue to play my chords and bet on the talented young folks I teach every year to pick up on a few riffs and make this song their own.

Teaching is indeed a calling. There are some things that money just can’t buy.