Why Do Athletes Make More Money than Professional Teachers

Teachers are barely Compensated. On the other hand artist and sport athletes are highly paid. What are the reasons on this? And What should be done about this?

There are things in nature that come out completely unsound; for instance, how a smaller animal devours a larger animal in the case of a lion and a buffalo. Meanwhile, there are just things that follow a certain rule, a certain reason for its cause and effect relationship. For some reason however, it is quite funny in the sense why this does not hold true all the time. Most, if not all people related to the academe are not adequately compensated for their services as compared to athletes and artist, when in fact some of them do not even have formal schooling.

This issue means different things to different people, to some, they view sport and artist as something that is not necessary to the development of society so it doesn’t require high salary, one example of this is my favorite Vloger Lloyd Cadena who get regular high income from YouTube by posting vlogs to the internet. On the other hand, some people believed that scarcity in relation to the level of demand determines the value for all things like the case of the weight lifter Hidilyn Diaz who recently won a gold medal in the Olympics for weight lifting, she is the only Filipino who can do that sport so she deserved high compensation.

These different perspectives create manifold implications and opinions. Personally, as a nurse who undergone 4 years of formal education in college, it’s really annoying why do athletes and artist make so much money than teachers. Do people really value sports more than they value education?

With the advent of technology, there have been more venues for advertisements from radios to televisions to the internet. Industries are expanding and consumerism are just everywhere, the two large TV networks in our country ( ABS-CBN and GMA) for instance continuously provide entertainment for all Filipinos, popular artist and athletes are needed by advertisers because they are the ones that set the trend. People simply idolize them to the point of listening to what they say in Facebook and YouTube and following what they do in twitter and other social media. This is the reason why there are abundant numbers of advertisers who are willing to pay hundreds of thousands so that those well-admired sports-inclined individuals and world renowned artisans will patronize their products. Hence, these advertisers can influence the minds of the public setting a fashion that is not necessarily for the greater good. Consumerism aside, athletes and artist simply provide entertainment. Nowadays, people are so preoccupied with work. This incapability of being satisfied brought by our desire to have more money is just overwhelming that people tend to be too busy and stressed out, willing them to spend on whatever little entertainment they can get. For instance, quality time has been reduced to going to the movies, tv shows, concerts or watching a basketball games with the family. Artists and athletes provide an escape to keep their condition of having a healthy mind intact.

Our government already passed legislations to insure teachers reasonable standards of life for themselves and their families, this was stated in Republic Act No. 4670 June 18, 1966 or the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers. On section 15 it says there that teachers shall be properly graded, and that the general salary scale shall be reasonable. However after doing a research in the internet, statistics shows that salary of teachers is far different from the salary of athletes.

The big question is, why do athletes make so much money than professional teachers? Do people really value sports more than they value education? When we talk about the value of athletes versus the value of educators we must consider the things that they can offer to the society instead of measuring the level of demand to these jobs. This is similar to the incongruity between Diamond and Water, Diamond is so expensive even every person is capable of living despite its absence while water is so cheap even it is important to sustain our life. Though the Philippine government allocated a large percentage of budget for education this year, still the dilemma on the jobs who deserves high salary still lingering in our mind.

The way I see it, sarcastic as it may seem, the trend of getting more pay in show business and playing sports will continue. An amusing question that arises would be, “Why pursue education then, when in fact playing sports and acting will ensure the welfare of the family?” This is a very difficult dilemma that is difficult to answer for without education, a domino effect from poor scientific research to poor technology to poor consumerism will follow. Therefore, addressing the problem of compensation for educators should be as important as entertainment in concerned, if not more important. The progress of culture and civilization lies in education. I believed that the government- Duterte Administration should keep this in mind and thereby set aside a larger portion of government budget to subsidize the fees of teachers and professors. Higher level of education entails higher economic growth which in effect, provides more employment and increase in the country’s total revenue.

There will be a lesser clamor for equality and justice when it comes to salary issues. Definitely it will be a win-win situation. In conclusion, It is imperative to address the compensation problems of the academic force. Doing so will eventually offer more opportunities and further advancements in societal aspects. Consequently, a closer reality towards an equalitarian community be achieved.