Former Teacher Shares How Much More She Makes as a Barista: 'So Sad'

An Arizona woman recently took to social media to share that she currently makes more as a barista than she did as a teacher.

The woman, identified as MT (@emmtee23), talked about the pay difference in a now-viral TikTok video captioned "I'm heated."

According to MT, she worked as a fifth-grade teacher for two months but ultimately quit because she didn't make a living wage.

Her clip has garnered over 100,000 views and more than 1,300 comments, some from supportive viewers and some from critical ones. You can watch the full video here.

Marisol Garcia, president of the Arizona Education Association, told Newsweek that many teachers are leaving the profession for the same reason.

"The average beginning teaching salary is $39,000 a year," Garcia said, adding that it's typical for teachers to take on a second job.

"A lot of them do Uber, a lot of them do Uber Eats...[and] it is very common for people to get into the profession [and] leave after the third year because there's no prospect for change."

MT told viewers that in order to supplement her income, she went to her savings.

"I was pulling out of my savings in order to live," she said. "I was getting paid and then still having to pull out of my savings in order to make a living...I was paying to work."

After quitting her teaching job, MT decided she didn't want a "career," so she interviewed for a barista position at a local coffee shop. When she learned how much she would make as a barista, she was shocked and a little upset.

"As a barista, you can be making $20-$22 an hour. As a teacher—this literally makes me mad to even say it—I made $12 [an hour]," MT said. "I made $12 an hour to work on Sundays, work on Saturdays, work after work, manage a whole classroom of literally 30 ten-year-olds...teachers don't get credit. I cannot believe I could've been a barista this whole time."

Viewers React

Many viewers were shocked to learn about MT's former teaching salary and argued that teachers, in general, deserve higher pay.

"There should be a federal enforced minimum wage for all teachers that is at least $25/hr," one user said.

"The system is so messed up and not fair," Haileyjane wrote.

"I made more working at Best Buy and I was just standing around half time," murccc commented. "So sad."

Michele added: "Teachers deserve better."

Others, however, criticized MT and said she should've looked into teacher salaries before becoming an educator.

"Hate to tell you, but you're able to look up average pay for the career you choose prior to spending four years working towards it," Erick Cervantes said.

Skylite asked: "Do people not know the pay before college?"

Meanwhile, Garcia called comments like these "insulting" and "disrespectful."

"Educators are common good practitioners," she said. "When I decided to become an educator, it was because I truly believed in democracy; I believed in an educated populace—that's why I decided to become an 8th-grade social studies teacher.

"[Those] are the kinds of people who enter the profession—people who want better for the common good, who believe in the possibility of change, and they trust the institution," she continued. "And unfortunately, the institutions, right now, are failing these folks and thus the educator exodus."

Newsweek has reached out to MT for comment.

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