I know I should be grateful but...

[mashman]

A big thanks from me to you for choosing to do what you love and not what you can screw your employer for... it's a rare thing in this world... even if your employer (and by default those that hold his reigns) don't value the work that goes into keeping their business a profitable enterprise...

I'm in a position to see what each of the employees salaries are at the company I work for and am absolutely stunned by the differences the word "manager" makes to $$$ and from what i've seen with no great rational for it... The people on the shop floor point out the failings in company procedure and policy, yet they wear the can for the failings of their over paid "superiors" ignorance of how the business actually works... the business models of today are for turning a quick buck... staff expendable, as long as there's a healthy profit margin... no need for quality service as a profitable business is soon sold on... i'll stop as it's more than depressing to see what "businessmen" are allowed to get away with these days...

All the best Yunga... don't let the bastards grind ya down...

[MSTRS:Me]

... don't let the bastards grind ya down...

I like the Latin...Nil Illegitimus Carborundum...
It's hard to watch someone you love do such an important job, a job they love, which wears them out physically, mentally and emotionally - yet are paid a pittance. It's often been said by various members on here that "I wouldn't get out of bed for that". Self-centred and short-sighted? Maybe, but I can understand the sentiment.

[ducatilover]

i was going to work for IHC down in masterton, yeah the pay isnt wonderful but i find an immense satisfaction working with the kids. which is why we currently look after two children for CYFS and have been for just over two years.
stacking fruit will not make you a person that people respect and you dont get to help less fortunate individuals who have had horrible set backs in life. seeing somebody that has had such an unjust disability thrown at them is too me one of the best things i could ever do

keep up the great work!

[alanzs]

"Capitalism has pulled a clever trick...It encourages people to define themselves through what they consume. Work is just a means to an end. It no longer defines character or offers personal fulfilment. It simply allows us to improve our status as consumers"

Peter Wilby, New Statesman

Live your life to the fullest! Drink from the cup that life offers! Don't allow yourself to be defined by others...

[MSTRS:Me]

Live your life to the fullest! Drink from the cup that life offers! Don't allow yourself to be defined by others...

But others do define a great deal of one's life and ability to partake of it.
"Money doesn't buy happiness. But it sure buys a better class of unhappiness"
...or....
"There is no sin in being poor, but damn, it can be inconvenient"

[The Pastor]

yeah its pretty bad when you earn so little.

I earn a little $16.50 i think, but im just starting out. When you've been working for a long time and have a specialized skill set and earn crap I can see the pain.

Its hard enough for me, and ive only been working 4 to 5 years.

Maybe you should look at starting your own bussiness? sounds like you have the experience to pull it off, if you are of that type.

[yungatart]

The point is not how little I earn, nor how much I could earn as a fruit and vege stall assistant...the point is the total lack of relativity between the two.

Surely the job demanding higher skill level and tertiary education should pay more than monkey work that involves little more than being pleasant.

[MSTRS:Me]

The point is not how little I earn, nor how much I could earn as a fruit and vege stall assistant...the point is the total lack of relativity between the two.

Surely the job demanding higher skill level and tertiary education should pay more than monkey work that involves little more than being pleasant.

I wonder what this sort of position pays at a totally private school (funded by parents and run as a 'profit-making' business)?
Schools, just like hospitals etc, being taxpayer funded money pits, are always struggling for funds. Or appear to, anyway.
Unfortunately, TAs are at the bottom of the hierachy and the high pay scales at the upper end ensure there is FA left once the trickledown is complete.

[jrandom]

Surely the job demanding higher skill level and tertiary education should pay more than monkey work that involves little more than being pleasant.

Y'reckon?

One directly generates profit.

The other is a social service that only exists as a paid job due to the goodness of the taxpayer's heart.

Not hard to see good old Adam Smith working his magic.

[Mully]

Surely the job demanding higher skill level and tertiary education should pay more than monkey work that involves little more than being pleasant.

Mmm, in a perfect world, it probably should. Unfortunately, we live in a far from perfect world.

In a perfect world, I should be earning millions, which 50 cent should be on welfare. But here we are.

[Disco Dan]

I noticed a job advertised in our local paper today...shop assistant at a roadside fruit and vegetable stall, stocking the bins, dealing with customers etc for 60 hours per week. Hourly rate between 18 and 20 dollars, depending on experience.

I compared that to my own job, dealing with special needs students for 26 hours per week. I am responsible for their academic education, personal cares, teaching life skills, socialisation, their safety and wellbeing and teaching acceptable behaviours.
I liaise with their parents, teachers and outside agencies.

How well I do my job can have a profound effect on them for the rest of their lives. I have a tertiary diploma in Teacher Aide studies and I undertake professional and personal development courses each year. I have ten years experience, and I am extremely effective in my role.

For this I am paid $16 per hour!! Forty weeks of the year, plus four weeks annual leave...the rest of the year I am unpaid!

Why the feck do I bother? I could earn more as a shop assistant....who cares about job satisfaction...

Today, I feel really worthless.
Pissed off? You bet!

I understand, I did the same job as you in a special needs school for about 3 years. Loved the job. I used to work 1:1 with a very challenging boy and I was responsible for his entire education for that year. Within 3 months his behavior was down to a level where he could rejoin the main class and he continued to improve while I was there.

It is shocking how low the pay is. Getting spat at, kicked/punched, sworn at by these children does get you down.

But when I saw one of my ex students a few weeks ago - now 15 and was doing REALLY well it made the pay seem immaterial.

Keep it up, it is "good work" rather than pen pushing which really only makes other people richer! YOU, give people LIFE and JOY and HAPPINESS.

[Sully60]

But when I saw one of my ex students a few weeks ago - now 15 and was doing REALLY well it made the pay seem immaterial.

And what is it worth to that student and everybody in their life that the person will be an active, contributing member of society? It's immeasurable.

Personally I think what you guys do is worth way more to everybody than some orchard owner making enough coin to buy a new Cayenne every second year.

Yungatart we have already seen the benefits of the help you've given us, you may not be valued highly enough by the system that you work in but I can tell you we think you're Gold, dipped in platinum and enlayed with diamonds!
If only you could take that to the bank!

[James Deuce]

I better not show this thread to our ESW. You're getting paid rather well in comparison.

[yungatart]

I better not show this thread to our ESW. You're getting paid rather well in comparison.

It's the ten years experience, Jim. Each year on my anniversary date, I get a pay increase. That, and I have my T/A Cert..

[James Deuce]

Ours is the same, plus she has 2 Autistic kids of her own, and a "previous life" that isn't acknowledged by her current pay.