Oct. 20, 2016 by Central Michigan Life

CENTRAL MICHIGAN LIFE | CM-LIFE.COM | OCT. 20, 2016

OPINIONS

Low salaries leave our teachers, their families struggling Sitting on the floor of Mrs. Sanderson’s first-grade classroom, two six-year-old girls argued over who could sit on my lap as I read them “Junie B. Jones” during indoor recess. It was September 2014 at an elementary school in St. Clair County. I was in between classes at the community college in town, visiting my mother and helping her while she was frantically grading papers. My mother looked up every so often to remind her students to use their “inside voices.” I spent that year acting as her teacher’s assistant. I witnessed the dedication she put into her

McKenzie Sanderson

Staff Reporter

lesson plans, staff meetings, report cards and the well-being of nearly 30 children. Despite her hard work, my mother continues to face financial hardships. The Economic Policy Institute reported in August 2016 that the gap between teachers’ salaries and salaries of comparable public workers is growing wider. The EPI refers to this gap as the “teacher pay penalty.”

It was her first year in a new building after leaving another school where she taught fifth grade for 12 years. The school closed down because of the district’s declining population. It was the furthest boundary school, so the district lines were redrawn, and many families chose to send their children elsewhere. The result was my mom’s first pay cut. My mom has taken four more pay cuts since then, subtracting roughly $20,000 from her annual income. She had to take on a second job tutoring three times a week just to help pay for my

books, or for gas money to drive my brother to baseball practice. It’s wrong to expect teachers to provide valuable educations to young people when a majority of them have to find work outside of the classroom just to make ends meet. In 2015, the weekly wages of public school teachers in the U.S. were 17 percent lower than comparable college-educated professionals. This number has grown substantially since 1994, when teachers were looking at a 1.8 percent decrease in wages. I know people don’t go into teaching to get rich, but this penalty doesn’t just hurt educa-

tors — it can create long-term economic harm for the education sector as a whole. Lawmakers have made massive cuts to public schools and teacher salaries in attempts to balance budgets in the wake of the Great Recession. Inflation over the past decade has outpaced teachers’ salaries in many states across the country, according to the National Education Association. These cuts have not only affected my family financially, but have completely disregarded the daily efforts and progress my mom makes with her students. Lawmakers must see the

value of educators and must stop deep cuts to education. If they expect teachers to take pay cuts, they must provide more assistance through benefits or grants for things like school supplies — purchases teachers usually make out of their own pockets. My mom shaped my life. She has also impacted nearly 800 young people who sat in her classrooms over two decades. Teachers take on an important role caring for and educating other people’s children. Let’s make it easier for them to take care of themselves and their own families, as well.

TECH THURSDAY

Google turns a new page in tech history with Pixel, AI products Google announced its lineup of five new consumer products on Oct. 4, and the drop is going to change the personal electronics market in a big way. The search engine giant used their conference earlier this month to lay out guidelines for the next phase of the technology war. The main concept Google plans to push is “machine learning” in their Artificial Intelligence assistant. This means Google’s assistant built into Android platforms can learn from what we say, and over time, can improve on its answers as more questions are asked.

Connor Byrne Page Designer

That vision for intuitive AI is Pixel. Their flagship smartphone claims to be as user friendly and simple as it is smart. The new phone has a vibrant uni-body aluminum chassis, and the perceptive Android 7.0 Nougat software. It was created to compete directly with iPhone products. I’ve been ambivalent about Android product performance

for some time, especially when it comes to competing with the iPhone. The 2016 Google announcement has finally changed my mind. Android and IOS now share a lot of similarities, even while retaining the differences that split consumer loyalties. One still allows for better customization, while another sticks to sleek and simple application. If you put an Android 7.0 device in front of an iPhone user, you’d be surprised at how fast they can adapt to the new software platform. Nougat designers made great strides to make it

instinctive, and I think they’ve done an excellent job here. Give it a shot the next time you’re in for a phone at Verizon, the first exclusive provider of the Google Pixel. The partnership with Verizon is Google’s first venture with a partner company for distribution. Google notoriously has only sold its hardware on its website. Now, its products will sit in plain public view next to Apple’s. This is a sign that Google has finally developed into a company investing in both hardware and software. By combining the two under

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an-AI driven platform, Google has positioned itself as a potential tech leader and hardware competitor with Apple. Google’s four other new products are also taking on tech giants like Amazon and Samsung. Google Home, a Bluetooth smart speaker, is a viable challenger to the Amazon Echo with a cheaper price tag. The Google Daydream VR headset offers a noticeably comfortable virtual reality experience. It stands in stark contrast to Samsung’s ski-goggle Galaxy VR headset. Chromecast Ultra was announced as well, allowing

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new age 4K video streaming and at a lower price than Apple TV or Roku. It’s last revelation was the announcement of three modular WiFi routers. These small cylinders can be placed throughout a house discreetly, while providing adequate WiFi coverage for any shaped house. With each of these products, Google is looking to place itself in your home and improve your life with the help of AI. It’s a brilliant and ambitious undertaking. Apple’s Siri can’t answer all of our questions, but it seems that Google’s analog can.

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