Chung’s ‘fault’ argument falls flat

David Chung ("Teachers are underpaid. It's their fault" 1/21) says teachers are underpaid (relative to engineers) because they've chosen unionization and job security. His argument falls flat for two reasons. First, the comparison of teachers to engineers is one of apples to oranges. Virtually all engineers work in the private sector for organizations that seek to make a profit. Their salaries are measured by the contributions they make as individuals to those profit-making ventures. Teachers don't work to create profits, they work to create minds.

Second, we're still in a world that retains real and quantifiable differences between the salaries of men and women for the same work. Chung concedes that teachers (mostly women) have "a professionalism that's undeniably parallel to that of engineers (mostly men), accountants, and lawyers." Contemporary history shows women employed in fields that have mostly been available to women — teaching, nursing, waiting tables, day care, nursing home care, and yes, even sex work, have benefited overwhelmingly by unionization and collective bargaining. So don't blame teachers for being underpaid. Look in the mirror.

Jim Walters

Iowa City