Ty's Topics

The average salary for an NBA player for 2022-2023 is about $9.2 Million! The average salary of an NFL player is around $2.8 Million. Meanwhile, the average salary of an elementary school teacher is around $61,000, a middle school teacher is $62,000, and $62,500 for a high school teacher. I personally find this to be a horrendous mix up of priorities in the United States. It becomes even more grotesque when you start to investigate where the money comes from.

Professional athletes earn a lot of their money through endorsements and deals from major companies such as Nike and Under Armour. Meanwhile, each school district must balance the needs of their area of responsibility, with their available funds. Athletes train constantly to play a game that may last upwards of 4 hours. Teachers, on the other hand, spend an average of 58 hours a week in the classroom, with additional hours being needed in their off time as well to build lesson plans, grade papers, and prepare for any number of additional challenges. So why are there millions of dollars’ worth of difference in these career’s salaries? Why does America value sports and entertainment over education?

Sports with especially high injury rates, such as football, have been likened to ancient Rome’s gladiatorial events. Crowds erupt in cheers and jeers when there is an excessively violent collision, as though it were the hidden reason to why fans flock to the stadiums and televisions during game time. There is certainly a place for sports in modern society. They help build companionship, comradery, teamwork skills, and more.

None of these feel an adequate reason for such unbelievable high salaries. Some, such as CJ Kelly with How They Play, attribute the high earnings of the players to the inherent risks involved with playing contact sports. To this, I would argue for the safety concerns of most blue-collar jobs, such as construction workers, roofers, loggers, truck drivers, etc. which OSHA has listed as some of the most dangerous jobs in America. Yet the weary hands of those workers, as well as teachers, could only ever dream of being filled with a fraction of the earnings that a professional athlete can earn in just a single year.

Perhaps it is due to players having to compete in all types of weather. While teachers may get to work indoors, they are still faced with many unique challenges. Teachers are surrounded by anywhere from 10 to 30 minors at a time. No matter how bad of a day a teacher is having, the consequences for them lashing out at a student are magnitudes worse than any athlete who were to lash out at a fan, member of the media, or even another player; someone they would have similarly close contact with on a regular basis. Ask any teacher, and I will be willing to bet dollars to donuts that they have had at least one student during their teaching career that showed signs of abuse at home, and yet the teacher was unable to provide help due to the rules and regulations that bind their hands. Almost no other career field faces such challenges.

Imagine what a generation of Americans could look like if they were raised to value education, respect teachers, and encouraged to learn as much as they could, all because teachers were paid enough to make the grueling hours and often thankless work tolerable. Imagine if sports were used as a fun social gathering event, where people weren’t so deeply invested in “their team” that they take to the streets and riot after a loss. Imagine if schools received enough funding to provide supplies to teachers, instead of them paying out of pocket for their own, much like how Athletes with sponsorships are provided top of the line gear to help them succeed. What an incredible culture we could be a part of if teachers and education were America’s number one priority, instead of catching the Sunday night football game, or round 7 of an NBA tournament. One can only wish for the generation that yearns to pick up a book instead of passing a ball.