An ex-teacher decided to leave their profession after realizing they were being underpaid and said they make more money while working as a server.
Taylor (@taylorryannardone) isn’t the only former educator who decided to leave their vocation behind to work other jobs. This other teacher happily decided to up and leave the classroom to work in Costco.
@taylorryannardone lil’ fact check #resign #formerteacher #quittok #leapoffaith ♬ original sound – taylor
“‘How did you afford to quit your job, oh my god, how are you living how are you gonna pay your bills?’” Taylor says in an affected voice, mocking people who consistently asked him these questions after he quit. “Because I was underpaid at my job,” he states.
On average, teachers in the U.S. are paid shockingly less when compared to other industrialized nations. CNBC analyzed the salaries of educators around the world, where the U.S. ranks seventh. However, when other factors are considered, like the cost of living in areas where teachers reside, and the value of the paychecks that many U.S. teachers receive, along with deductions for health insurance and union fees, it is considerably less.
The gap between average United States teacher salaries is shockingly low when compared to a country like Luxembourg, which gives its teachers $101,360. The US: $62,102, a nearly $40,000 dollar difference, i.e. around the cost of a new Tesla Model 3 RWD model.
Germany was second on the list, giving teachers an average of $80,407 per annum for their work, with Canada trailing behind the European country at around $9,000.
Taylor continues to explain why he decided to leave the teaching profession in his clip, saying, “After five years of being in the education profession I was making $55,000 a year. I was underpaid at my job.”
He adds in a text overlay that after deductions, his actual take home was $38,000.
“I now make that amount of money in 3 days a week working as a server. And if I went to a high-end restaurant I’d be doubling that,” he explains. “So this whole thing of like how y’all gonna pay your bills, y’all I was not making a lot of money before.”
Taylor then explains that he was willing to “forego ‘security’ for a short amount of time to see where this road takes [him.]”
“I know that I’m not committed to anything and at any point in time I could return to a field I could start something new there are possibilities out there,” he concludes. “Do not condition yourself with fear.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Taylor via email for further comment.
A number of TikTokers agreed with Taylor’s assessment of his decision to change his career trajectory.
“‘How you gonna pay your bills now??’ babes I wasn’t paying my bills before lmao,” one user shared.
Another said, “I recently quit my OVERpaying job But luckily I lived/live well below my means. And no $ is worth the dread I felt every day of hating it.”
Others said that as a teacher, they were even making significantly less when compared to Taylor’s previous salary, with one user writing, “Wait you were making $55000… lmao I am VERY underpaid then.”
Others said there’s no way teachers can live on the average salary given to educators in the U.S. As one user wrote, “THIS!! It’s not a living wage. It’s only do-able if you have a partner who makes more/ lhave family money.”
