Writer says last job's salary and teaching salary not apples to apples

I applaud and admire Mr. Ken Fron's decision to take up a new career as he states in his article (Fence Post, March 17). In it he retired from the private sector and went into the public sector (teaching).

However, I have to take issue with some of his comparisons. For instance he states, “After retiring, I started teaching at a private school in Chicago and my salary was about one-third what it was in my previous career.”

Maybe I am misunderstanding him but I think he is comparing his last salary from the private sector to a starting salary in a new career. A more realistic comparison would be his original starting salary in his private sector job to the current starting salary for his new career and then applying the appropriate economic adjustment factor for inflation.

He also states, “My current salary as a public schoolteacher is still more than 30 percent less than it was as a software engineer in 2001.”

Since he retired as a software engineer in 2001 I am assuming he had been working in that industry for quite a number of years. From what I can deduce he has been a public schoolteacher for about six years.

So I think a logical comparison would be (as previously stated) what his salary was after six years of working as a software engineer and not what his last salary was.

Mr. Fron's main point was that teachers do pay for benefits and that some people are not aware of that. Personally, I was always aware of that and I hope it clears up some misconceptions. However, I think the salary comparisons are misleading.

Either way, good luck to Mr. Fron with his teaching career.

Ken Hofrichter

Elk Grove Village