Recipient: Neil Koreman Occupation: Science Teacher, Northside Prep High School Responded On: January 25, 2005 Bill Received At: Chicagoland Canoe Base 4019 North Narragansett Chicago Originally Dropped At: Chicagoland Canoe Base 4019 North Narragansett Chicago On: January 21, 2005

 

Neil Koreman's Comments

 

Do you know where you picked up the bill?
I got it at the Chicago Canoe Livery on Narragansett. I was buying a new canoe seat for a canoe that a student put his knee through. We were trying to figure out how many students it took to sink a canoe so we would study Archimedes's principle. When you put a boat in water it pushes the water out of the way and the water pushes back.

In the United States, if people start out in a very low paying job, can they still become quite wealthy if they work hard enough?
If we have an individual with low educational attainment getting an entry level job, there are probably limited opportunities within the current business structure to advance. On the other hand families who are coming in who are starting businesses may start as a single guy sending all the money back home but wind up running a business with hundreds of employees. So I think that when you talk about what's your total income over a lifetime, someone who starts with a retail job probably has limited opportunities to move up in a corporate structure. Someone who starts their own business probably has more opportunity.

Do you think that in a general sense money is distributed fairly in the United States?
Absolutely not. I think that we have a wide disparity of wealth and think it's a huge societal problem. Being in the Chicago Public Schools, even though I'm at a privileged school, it is so grossly evident. There was a front page article in the Chicago Tribune, last Thursday perhaps, about a kindergarten teacher with thirty-six children in the room. And she's at an economically disadvantaged school and I admire her courage. Because she finally went to the newspaper after trying to fight through the union and the board. And the children in those schools really don't have a lot of resources. I think if we just look around our city, we'll see that there are people starving in the city of Chicago.

Are people fairly compensated for the kind of work they do?
It's very telling in our culture that rock stars and athletes are the highest paid individuals. It says something about what we value. Of course I'm a teacher. So I feel that I'm underpaid. I think that all teachers try to serve the children. Now I'm sure that there are some teachers who look at it like a nine and a half month job. They punch in at seven, they punch out at two and I think that's the public perception. But my experience as a teacher has been one of twelve hour days, a lot of late nights grading, weekends in the lab setting stuff up. My summers include graduate work. So, when you say, “Oh yeah, teachers get the summer off,” we, in many ways, need time just to sleep.

One of the things I think of, is a friend of mine was just offered eighty grand starting with an MBA, which is very nice and I appreciate the work they put into it. However this is an entry level position. This is someone who's fresh out of school. My wage, were I to earn a doctorate and serve thirteen years under the current contract, would top out around sixty-five grand. And so, even with two masters degrees and twelve years of teaching experience, I have to do a lot of extra work to make the budget that I want to make.

Do you ever play the lottery?
I do play the lottery once in awhile. I generally play it when the jackpot is large, like 50 million. So I figure a dollar is worth dreaming.