If teachers were underpaid - it would be a poor argument.
But if there's an acute shortage of 'key' workers in jobs that require education, for jobs where wages are materially above market pricing - then this is where you want H1B type programs.
The idea is that it should not harm the local market for labour, and it's usually not reasonable to expect market wages to be a radical departure from where they would be otherwise.
Aka - if teachers are earning $80K on average, then it's not going to work out i some small towns need to pay $150K to bring people in from the city, it also creates problems for locals.
Special worker programs can be well utilized here in the right circumstances.
The 'bad' scenario is when labour market is flooded where those jobs would otherwise go to locals.
Tata/Infosys (generic IT workers) are alone probably 80% of the problem.
'Teachers are underpaid' is a qualitative statement, separate from what is 'median wage'.
Teachers earn about the median wage in the US and slightly above the median wage in California and Alaska.
I think that pay structure is about right and given the way education is paid for and lack of willingness of people to move to rural areas, H1 seems about right for acute cases and specialized subjects.
If you can't get a physics teacher to move to 'Wherever Alaska' - you have a problem.
It’s a matter of incentives. The avg American grows up with certain “American dream” that clashes with that rural America life. There is no incentive to leave everything behind and go be basically alone. Immigrants have a “lower” baseline or just want the experience of being abroad, or are willing to put up with rural living because from wherever they are, it looks better. You’d have to entice a city teacher to move to rural America.
You’ll say “pay them more”. But who are you taxing more? Because no one is happy when the gov starts looking at being more efficient and starts laying off some admin people either.
Teachers were like 4% of all H1Bs. Using CS/AI H1B proceeds to increase pay to rural teachers more seems like a no-brainer. The current Alaskan teacher pay seems to be below median, which seems like an good threshold to disallow H1B workers altogether.
I find your reference to "third worlders" a bit offensive and racist. "First worlders" (whatever that means for you) also do apply for H1B visas, just FYI.
If you imply that teachers on visa are somehow inferior or worse then citizen teachers (non-existent btw since noone is volunteering for Alaska gig), you are either being terribly misinformed or just bigoted.
It's literally exactly the argument.
If teachers were underpaid - it would be a poor argument.
But if there's an acute shortage of 'key' workers in jobs that require education, for jobs where wages are materially above market pricing - then this is where you want H1B type programs.
The idea is that it should not harm the local market for labour, and it's usually not reasonable to expect market wages to be a radical departure from where they would be otherwise.
Aka - if teachers are earning $80K on average, then it's not going to work out i some small towns need to pay $150K to bring people in from the city, it also creates problems for locals.
Special worker programs can be well utilized here in the right circumstances.
The 'bad' scenario is when labour market is flooded where those jobs would otherwise go to locals.
Tata/Infosys (generic IT workers) are alone probably 80% of the problem.
This would hold more weight if teachers in rural areas weren't getting paid less than half your thought experiment average.
Your little comment would have more weight it had any factual substance.
Average teachers salary in US is 75K and it's over 100K in California.
[1]https://www.nea.org/nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/teac...
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Teachers are underpaid. No occupation paying under median wage in the area should be granted work visa.
'Teachers are underpaid' is a qualitative statement, separate from what is 'median wage'.
Teachers earn about the median wage in the US and slightly above the median wage in California and Alaska.
I think that pay structure is about right and given the way education is paid for and lack of willingness of people to move to rural areas, H1 seems about right for acute cases and specialized subjects.
If you can't get a physics teacher to move to 'Wherever Alaska' - you have a problem.
It’s a matter of incentives. The avg American grows up with certain “American dream” that clashes with that rural America life. There is no incentive to leave everything behind and go be basically alone. Immigrants have a “lower” baseline or just want the experience of being abroad, or are willing to put up with rural living because from wherever they are, it looks better. You’d have to entice a city teacher to move to rural America.
You’ll say “pay them more”. But who are you taxing more? Because no one is happy when the gov starts looking at being more efficient and starts laying off some admin people either.
Teachers were like 4% of all H1Bs. Using CS/AI H1B proceeds to increase pay to rural teachers more seems like a no-brainer. The current Alaskan teacher pay seems to be below median, which seems like an good threshold to disallow H1B workers altogether.
Have you considered the possibility that H1B teachers are simply better (at any price point) ?
H1B proceeds go to fund USCIS and its staff, they do not go towards local school districts.
This whole discussion is full of racists and haters who dont know anything about the subject beyond clickbait titles
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Are teaching and software engineering even job categories that overlap enough that they should compete for the same pool of visas?
It seems to me things would be better if they were classified as different visa categories.
so you want to leave rural children without teachers?
I think the commenter is volunteering to go themselves.
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I find your reference to "third worlders" a bit offensive and racist. "First worlders" (whatever that means for you) also do apply for H1B visas, just FYI.
If you imply that teachers on visa are somehow inferior or worse then citizen teachers (non-existent btw since noone is volunteering for Alaska gig), you are either being terribly misinformed or just bigoted.
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