We’ve all heard that teachers are underpaid. This turns out to be a myth, especially in affluent areas like the Long Island suburbs:
One in 12 teachers in Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties now earns more than $100,000, and the ranks are growing fast, according to an analysis of state data by The New York Times. On Long Island from 2001 to 2003 (the most recent figures available), the number grew fivefold, to 2,800, including 498 elementary school teachers, 29 physical education teachers and 83 kindergarten teachers.
But don’t expect this myth to go away any sooner than the myth that America’s middle class white women are oppressed. Some myths are too politically valuable to correct.