The Teacher Who Went Viral For Sharing His Salary On TikTok Tells Us Just How Broken The Education System Is
On today's episode of BuzzFeed Daily, we broke down the top pop culture headlines AND talked with the teacher who went viral on TikTok for sharing his first-year salary. You can listen below or scroll down to read more about the interview!
So let's dive right into it! Recently we talked to Kyle Cohen, a fourth-grade teacher in Ohio, about his recent TikTok shedding light on the paltry wages of teachers. Here's some of what we learned:
BuzzFeed Daily: You recently posted a video to TikTok in which you talked about how much money you get paid as a teacher. Can you tell us about that first video you made and why you chose to make it?
BuzzFeed Daily: The response to the video was fairly divided. You had some people in the comment section showing their support, including other educators. But there was also a contingent of commenters who thought your salary was completely reasonable. For example, one user wrote "I feel like teachers get what they deserve. They have three months off, weekends off, every holiday off, etc. So this is reasonable pay." Were you surprised to see reactions like this?
BuzzFeed Daily: I know that this question probably won't have a simple answer, but do you have a sense as to how pay has gotten this bad in the American education system? Like how did we get to this point?
Fox / Via giphy.com
KC: So we're dealing with, I think, years and years and years of undervaluing educators in the work that they're doing and not having this conversation about where we can go in terms of how we treat them. And I also think we're at this current point in our education system as a result of systemic inequities that persist across the board in our country, including systemic racism that persists across the board in our country. And we're really looking at students who grow up in one zip code that have a dramatically different educational experience than students who grow up in a different zip code. And these are system issues, right? This isn't because of my teaching. This isn't because of the teacher who was here 30 years before me teaching the way they were. These are issues that have been persisting in this country for a really long time, and they're something that we need to address immediately.
BuzzFeed Daily: I have to imagine being a teacher during the height of the pandemic was one of the hardest jobs to have at that time, not to mention all of the subsequent mask and vaccine debates that centered around the classroom. What has your experience been like over the last year and a half, especially in terms of the resources that teachers have been provided with?
BuzzFeed Daily: To bring that back to your salary, and teacher salaries in general, it sounds like you're doing way more work than anyone signed up for without that extra pay.
Pixar
KC: 100%. And I mean, no one goes into the field of education for the pay. That's not why anyone signs up for this job. We sign up for this job to make an impact and to have a meaningful impact on the lives of kids, but when you're unable to afford your own life because of the money that you're making, it's just never-ending challenges.
We also talked about Buffy and Bring It On star Eliza Dushku appearing in front of a House Judiciary Committee to talk about how her former Bull costar Michael Weatherly allegedly sexually harassed her, as well as the subsequent forced arbitration at CBS.
WATCH: @ElizaDushku shares her personal story of the sexual harassment she faced at CBS and the secret arbitration process she was forced to enter. #EndForcedArbitration