When people think of superheroes, they think of Superman, Spider-Man or Batman. We are trained to think that superheroes save the city, defeat the bad guy and save the world. We soon realize that all that stuff is fake, and it is all produced to make money. 

I feel that the true superheroes are police officers and teachers. These people are the ones Americans depend on the most, but also the ones who receive the most hate. They have to wake up every single day and give their workdays 110 percent, nothing less. Even though these people are depended on every day, they receive barely enough income to make it through a fiscal year. Educators and the police force are the most under appreciated jobs in America, and to pay them less than a waterboy for a sports team is simply ridiculous. It baffles me how you can make $63,000 a year in America squirting water into another grown man’s mouth.

I can name all the influential educators in my life who have shown me how to succeed and be strong from my underclassmen years with Ms. Clark, Mrs. Ramirez and Ms. Terrebone, to my upperclassmen years with Mr. George McGovern, Mr. Plasse, Mr. Growl and many other educators who influenced me. These people are teachers who will always have an impact on my life. Teachers’ jobs consist of many more things than just teaching. They have to show up earlier than students and plan lessons, and they have to stay after to grade tests and quizzes. They have to keep an eye on students during the day to see if they are acting like their normal selves and nothing is going on. Teaching only makes up a small percentage of an educator’s day. Teachers should be one of the highest paid jobs on earth if you ask me. A teacher’s pass and fail rate determines the future of the world around us. Teaching has a long-term, continuous effect on students every day. Teaching takes much more skill than just squeezing a Gatorade bottle.

Police officers also make up one of the many underpaid jobs in America. Police officers have to work long days and extensive nights just to put food on the table. They are put under a huge microscope each and every single day. In my opinion, police officers need to have a better instinct more than any other occupation. One wrong move by a police officer can determine a community’s future. Police officers provide safety and well-being for cities and communities all across America. Police officers are the first to get called when someone is uncomfortable or when something horrible happens to someone. To pay them less than a NFL waterboy is completely ridiculous. It takes a lot more than just brawn to be a police officer. It takes bravery and leadership, not being scared when others are and providing citizens with a sense of safety.

I feel that teachers and police officers should be paid like NFL athletes. It disappoints me that someone who plays a children’s game makes way more money than teachers and police officers. Americans need to step up to the plate and tell their taxpayers to demand higher pay for these two occupations. Without these two occupations, America would fall apart in days and become uninhabitable.