Teachers not overpaid

According to the article, "Teachers underpaid? Some say they are overpaid" (Feb, 6), the Heritage Foundation reports that teachers are overpaid and overcompensated with benefits. My question is, if teachers are paid so well why is there such high attrition in the profession?

Forbes reported that a national study in March 2011 showed that 48 percent of all new teachers leave the profession within five years. Why would so many teachers go into debt from five years of college to quit the profession so quickly if they are really overpaid and overcompensated? According to the laws of a free market there should not be such a high attrition rate if the profession is overpaid.

Perhaps the Heritage Foundation is grasping at straws to promote its political agenda of destroying all public services, including education. Teachers are not necessarily underpaid, but they are undervalued. If you were to weigh the value teachers have to society, then they should be paid higher than most other professions out there. Sadly, our nation does not value education.

Derek Smith

Lehi