Nurse Salary vs. Teacher Salary?

Music in My Heart · May 25, 2009

...that teachers were simply glorified babysitters?

And airline pilots are just glorified bus drivers.

And engineers are just glorified technicians.

And medical doctors are just glorified chemists.

And surgeons are just glorified plumbers/mechanics.

whoknows56 · May 25, 2009

I was talking to a friend this morning and she is just finishing Nursing school and said that she could have become a Teacher with better hours and the same pay? Is this true? I know as a RN we start at $20 an hour. Is this the case for Teachers. I have always been told RN's are paid so well and Teachers not so well. Was I always misinformed? I googled this very question and I didn't get any clear answers. I would love to teach and also get my RN degree and possibly be a RN part time if thats the case.

I didn't read the responses, so I might repeat what others may have said.

Don't look at just salaries for the following reasons:

1: Nursing has more upside in career potential

2: Teachers teach the same subject year after year and work with the same age group year after year. Nurses can change their work envrionment if chosen so (e.g., clinical research, bedside to research, etc, etc, etc)

3: More jobs in nursing than teaching

4: I know plenty of teachers who keep getting their health care benefits cut every year

mebaker12 · May 25, 2009

What about nurse salary vs. nurse professor salary? I have wondered why some college professors who are extremely smart are not in other professions (e.g. math/statistics college teacher vs. engineer, or biology/anatomy teacher vs. doctor?)??

After posting this comment, I will try to find more information regarding nursing professors.

One more thought...I've heard many times that it is not the shortage of people who want to become nurses, but the shortage of nursing professors that is the limiting factor.

kitti419 · May 25, 2009

And airline pilots are just glorified bus drivers.
And engineers are just glorified technicians.
And medical doctors are just glorified chemists.
And surgeons are just glorified plumbers/mechanics.

and drug dealers are unlicensed pharmacists

whoknows56 · May 25, 2009

I am going to graduate with a BSN and I thought that it was the better choice when I started nursing school but I'm a little concerned that I won't be making more than ADN because I have over 50K in student loans that the ADN won't have. It just costs more time and money to get a BSN so I think that we should have some sort of compensation for that in the workplace. I'm not saying that the work is any different or that one is better than the other, I'm just saying that if you take the extra time and effort and expense to get the BSN, you should have some hope of paying your student loans when you graduate.

Education debt is just debt. You will get it paid off as long as you make it a focus of your expenses. Sure the ADNs will make as much as you, but there is more to it. You got the chance to experience the college atmosphere and you have more career growth potential. The ADNs you will be working with, if they wanted to move up to a new nursing position, they will have to go back to school to get that BSN........sure some might work and go to school at the same time, but it will most likely take them longer.

Edit: I also want to add the following. Once a person starts going down the road of comparing salaries of "professionals", you will always start comparing your $45,000 a year salary with the local accountants and the local accountants will start comparing their salaries with the hedgefund managers pulling in six figures and up to multiple millions of dollars a year and the hedgefund managers will compare their salaries to the CEO's of very succesfull businesses and the richest CEO's will compare their salaries to the richest athelets.

In other words, there will always be a person that makes more than you. Only one person, out of billions, makes the most money of any person.

True happyness is not the number in your checking account, but it does help, but being happy with yourself.

firefox828 · May 26, 2009

I am going to graduate with a BSN and I thought that it was the better choice when I started nursing school but I'm a little concerned that I won't be making more than ADN because I have over 50K in student loans that the ADN won't have. It just costs more time and money to get a BSN so I think that we should have some sort of compensation for that in the workplace. I'm not saying that the work is any different or that one is better than the other, I'm just saying that if you take the extra time and effort and expense to get the BSN, you should have some hope of paying your student loans when you graduate.

You must have known all along before you started nursing school that there's not that much of a difference in salary between BSN and ASN; you chose the BSN route.

sunray12 · May 26, 2009

What about nurse salary vs. nurse professor salary? I have wondered why some college professors who are extremely smart are not in other professions (e.g. math/statistics college teacher vs. engineer, or biology/anatomy teacher vs. doctor?)??
After posting this comment, I will try to find more information regarding nursing professors.
One more thought...I've heard many times that it is not the shortage of people who want to become nurses, but the shortage of nursing professors that is the limiting factor.

Starting professor salaries are the same regardless of discipline. Pay increases based on experience. As for why teaching vs practice? Some people just want to teach. The end game is not always to become a practitioner.

Many engineers spend a 60+ hours/week in cube farms, math professors have their own offices, free roam of beautiful college campuses and the classroom teaching part of their job is only a few hours/week. It's a lifestyle thing.

Music in My Heart · May 26, 2009

Many engineers spend a 60+ hours/week in cube farms, math professors have their own offices, free roam of beautiful college campuses and the classroom teaching part of their job is only a few hours/week. It's a lifestyle thing.

Not to mention that tenured professors have life-time job security and defined-benefit pension plans... few practicing engineers enjoy those.

Music in My Heart · May 26, 2009

I am going to graduate with a BSN and I thought that it was the better choice when I started nursing school but I'm a little concerned that I won't be making more than ADN because I have over 50K in student loans that the ADN won't have. It just costs more time and money to get a BSN so I think that we should have some sort of compensation for that in the workplace. I'm not saying that the work is any different or that one is better than the other, I'm just saying that if you take the extra time and effort and expense to get the BSN, you should have some hope of paying your student loans when you graduate.

You shouldn't be compensated more simply because it cost you more time and money to earn your license.

Cinqly, BSN, RN · May 27, 2009

You shouldn't be compensated more simply because it cost you more time and money to earn your license.

It didn't cost more time and money. It cost more EFFORT. If you make the effort to have a broader general education, including additional nursing classes, should you not be compensated for that effort? It's common in most professions to be compensated more with higher education. Not all, but most. To put it into perspective, teachers get paid more if they have a masters or doctorate degree. Nursing is different for some reason because of the license. But should it be? I don't think so. Just my opinion.

And incidentally, the university that I went to was VERY affordable and cost not much more than some 2-year programs.

Music in My Heart · May 27, 2009

It didn't cost more time and money.

I was just quoting:

jayeldee It just costs more time and money to get a BSN so I think that we should have some sort of compensation for that in the workplace.

You then stated,

It's common in most professions to be compensated more with higher education. Not all, but most.

Really? Most? Can you back that up? Besides teaching, I can't off the top of my head think of a single profession in which additional degrees are a guarantee of higher pay. The ones that I know intimately are engineering, chemistry, aviation/piloting (I'm excluding addition type ratings as 'education'), and firefighting -- not in any of those professions is additional education a guaranteed higher paycheck... in the latter two, it's guaranteed to be no different and the former two are based on performance and/or individual negotiation.

It cost more EFFORT. If you make the effort to have a broader general education, including additional nursing classes, should you not be compensated for that effort?

No. The effort that one puts in to their education is no basis upon which to provide additional compensation.

Now, all that said, I DO think that additional education does warrant higher compensation but not for the reasons stated by jayeldee or by you. The reason that higher education is should warrant higher compensation is simply that I believe - ON AVERAGE, GENERALLY SPEAKING - a more highly educated person is more able to respond to novel situations and to provide other services to the institution beyond the minimal basics of their license.

It's the additional knowledge and experience that warrants the higher pay, not the time, cost, or effort of obtaining it.

Before y'all start flaming me, please note that I said "I believe," "ON AVERAGE," and "GENERALLY SPEAKING." If you're going to flame me, at least take into account what I've actually said.

Aneroo, LPN · May 27, 2009

Respectfully, I have to disagree with you on almost every point. At least here in Ohio, our unions tend to be very weak and administrator friendly. Class sizes in low income districts are horrible and as a teacher no one ever gave a hoot that we regularly had 30-35 high schoolers per class.
And parents are the entire reason I left teaching. I couldn't take another year of parents calling the principal or the administration every time they or their student didn't get exactly what they wanted. The principals/administration always backed the students and parents and left the teachers virtually powerless. IMO, the parents at the schools are feel every bit as entitled as the patients I now see at the hospital (as a social work trainee)
Honestly both careers have their ups and their downs, but as they are so different I don't think it is even possible to guess at who has it better. ( but I do I know that many of the teachers I taught with have gone on to become nurses :) In their words, better pay, fewer hours, same old ****)

I agree. I don't think we have a teachers union here. I'm a school nurse, and my ideas of what teachers do was grossly underestimated. I'm shocked to read on the sign in sheet where many have signed in by 6:00 am, and then are expected to coach sports or are required to help with other activities outside of normal school hours. They're threatened by students (and family) with nothing more an a chance of suspension for the student. Parents call and yell (and threaten) because their child is failing a class (when the child is falling asleep in class, has been given opportunity to make up missed work and they refuse to), becuase it's all the teachers fault that a child is failing a class. On the opposite end, there are the parents that can't even be reached when the child is failing and they could care less what the kid is doing.

Here, the new grad instructors start out at about 33K. Even during the summer off they're working to get the continuing education and lesson plans made. Their class sizes are growing to unsafe levels, they're facing unrealistic expectations from the government while being provided with less and less to do it with.