The War on Teachers

i have been seeing numerous forum posts, stated opinions, etc. declaring that there is currently a war on teachers.  Declaring that is an act of hyperbole.  What is really rightfully under attack is the teacher unions (and associated benefits and tenure).  There is a big difference between a revenue generating organization employing people and the government taking money from the taxpayers to pay workers.  These unions are a big problem when you are talking about changing the system for the better. 

For some reason, people have gotten sold the concept that teacher are underpaid urchins barely making it by in the real world.  The media income for teachers in 2011 was over $40,000 a year.  That may not sound like a lot until you realize that wages are not the only form on compensation that teachers receive.  A benefits package should always be included.  In 2008 (according to census data, which appear to be among the most recent stats) the median household income was about $50,300.  Household income typically suggests multiple people working and contributing funds.  Teachers may have Bachelor's Degrees (master degrees are completely unnecessary for most teachers), but it is not like they are generating revenue in any conceivable manner.  There is no way a teacher should be paid the same as a more highly skilled college graduate like a doctor, lawyer, accountant, computer programmer, etc.  It is completely laughable to say teachers deserve as much money as professional athletes/rock stars (who actually generate revenue). 

So are teachers worth the relatively large amount of money/compensation they receive?   Why do i say they receive such high compensation?  One obvious reason is that most teachers work less (around 182-190 days) than the average for most full time workers (260 days per year).   Teachers are largely shielded from free market moves and tend to have more job security. 

If you want to sell me on the idea that teachers earn their salaries, i need to know a few key things... what (if anything) do teachers actually produce? and if they actually produce anything, what is the value.  With most jobs, compensation is actually related to productivity.  i don't get why teachers always want more money for doing less work (smaller class size) - that really isn't the way the world works. 

My view is that teachers are significantly overpaid considering the number of days they work and the lack of a monetary measure of productivity.  There is also the issue of the substitute teacher.  Many districts have a fairly large pool of substitute teachers - many of who could actually teach classes, so there should be downward pressure on teacher salaries/compensation - but they have been artificially inflated by union contracts.  In light of everything, i believe that teacher salaries should be reduced by $10K or more and that the benefits package should be tailored (and significantly reduced) to be more realisitc based off of what private industry acutally does (not what government claims it does).  No i do not believe that teaching should be a unionized position, especially if you are getting paid by the taxpayers.