Teachers all around the world don't get enough credit. They are doing something they love to teach your children, and in return, you don't want to give them ANYTHING. All they are asking for in return is a pay they can live off of. Not one that they are barely skating each month by with.
Oklahoma 2016 teacher of the year, Shawn Sheehan, once said: "Sure, life can be done on $400, $450 a month, but I would challenge others out there to buy diapers, groceries and all the things that you need for a family of three on $400." Try taking that into consideration. Are you making enough money to the point where you don't think about those extents? They are not asking for much, they're just asking for human rights.
With the Oklahoma teacher walkout, it is finally being brought to the media's attention that teachers aren't making enough of a living. Think about what they actually have to go through in their day.
The average school start time is 8:00 AM. This means they have to be in their classrooms ahead of time, they probably had a decent commute time, and they're humans who need to get ready in the morning. Then they have to teach classes all day (and they're not always the same class with the same lesson) and end that part of their day around 3 PM. Most schools choose to hire their teachers as coaches, tutors, club advisers, etc. That means those teachers days have been lengthened to at least 2 hours and 30 minutes more.
So now it is maybe 5:30 and the chances they're done for the day are slim. They have yet to go home and cook dinner, most teachers have families they need to care for. Children they need to pick up, bring home, feed, and teach them as well. For the thousands of teachers out there that can't afford to live on their salary, they are working two (or more) jobs. Not every other job position is flexible enough to give them weekends only, so some need to work their second jobs on the weekdays.
There is just simply not enough time in the day, in the week, in the month, in the year, and in teachers' lives to make a living. Yes, they get the weekends off (unless they are a coach for a sport that has games/practices on the weekend or an adviser of a club that gets together on a Saturday for something.) They're lucky enough to get their summers and winters off too. It may seem like teachers have the world. But alas, we do not.
They need to create lesson plans to educate your children, grade homework, tests, and papers to make sure they're properly taking in the information they receive all day. We ask the best from our students and you shouldn't be asking for anything less from us. However, that means they need to make a living without spending it all on school supplies for your children to succeed.
Next time you want to accuse teachers of being greedy, think twice.