Kyle Cohen is a fourth-grade teacher from Cleveland, Ohio, who recently went viral on social media when he shared just how little teachers make in the US.
Mr. Cohen has been teaching for four years, and he just recently completed his master’s degree in educational leadership.
He shared the details in a video that has since been viewed more than 1.1 million times on TikTok, and people had a lot to say about it, and the US education system.
In the video, he said that in his first year of teaching, he taught at a charter school in Cleveland, Ohio, and he made $31,000 as a fourth-grade teacher with a class of 16 students, with a wide range of special needs.
@mr.kylecohen #stitch with @itsnitababyyy #teachers #teachersoftiktok #teacherlife #money ♬ original sound – Mr. Kyle Cohen
The response to his video, however, was mixed. Although many people expressed their concern over the low salary, others couldn’t understand what was wrong with it – especially considering that it was his first year, and teachers increase their salaries drastically.
Others, however, mentioned all the time off teachers get, and commented that teachers only work eight to nine months a year and short hours compared to all other workers – implying that they don’t work enough to be paid more.
So, Cohen decided to break it down in another video, who went viral – gaining more than 4.5 million views.
@mr.kylecohen Reply to @mikekarpinski291 #teacher #teachersoftiktok #teacherlife ♬ original sound – Mr. Kyle Cohen
Cohen did clarify that he doesn’t want to sound ungrateful, but he believes educators are underpaid in the country.
“I’m not ungrateful because I absolutely love what I do, and I would not trade being an educator for anything. I am incredibly grateful to be in this field. But what I am hoping we have conversations about is the fact that teachers who are ‘only working for eight to nine months of the year’ are being paid inappropriately for the amount of work that they are doing.” – he concluded.
Source: Upworthy
