Classical Christian Teachers, Ask For A Raise

Teachers, no one is just going to start giving you more money. That’s not how money works. It’s not how people work. You have to ask for it. If you’re good at your job and you don’t make much money, you should ask for more.

Most classical teachers believe that if their schools could pay them more, they would. They also tend to believe that if they ask for more money (and get it), they’re taking money from some other teacher who is even more broke, more desperate.

This same mentality is what led me and my wife to burn through a $10k savings account over my early years as a teacher just to make ends meet. I kept waiting for raises that just never came, not even when enrollment grew.

The problem was mostly mine. I didn’t ask for more. If you don’t ask for more money, people assume you’re fine.

“The squeaky wheel gets the grease,” as my father often said when I was young.

We all have friends that we’d gladly give thousands to–if they needed it and asked for it. But I’ve never just given a bunch of money to someone who didn’t ask for it.

Generally speaking, though, classical teachers are a timid bunch. Our society breeds timidity into them. And asking for a raise takes some guts. It takes some self-confidence.

The thing is, classical schools need the kind of teachers who ask for raises.

Classical schools need gutsy, bold, self-confident teachers who aren’t embarrassed to ask for raises. Put another way: classical schools need the kind of teachers who are worthy of raises and ask for raises.

I don’t mean teachers who ask for 50% raises at the end of their rookie year. I mean teachers who are building families, building social stability for their schools, worth more the longer they stick around, and ask for their worth.

Sure, plenty of schools simply can’t give raises, but plenty of them can.

If you work at a school that’s a non-profit (and most classical schools are), you can look at your school’s financial state on websites like ProPublica. You can see how much top earners at your school make. It’s eye-opening.

It will definitely give you a more accurate sense of where the classical education movement is right now–and where your school is.