Teacher Pay
It's in the paper again. Lets pay good teachers extra. Sound pretty good right? How about not. What is a good teacher? There are a million ways to define good, and what is good for one student is not good dfor another. In a perfeect world we would want to pay the good teachers more than those who put in little effort and do nothing beyond the boring and expected. The problem is that there is no way to fairly evaluate teachers. Standardized tests? They aren't perfect measures, that practice would lead to lots of teaching to the test, kids that hate an otherwise good teacher could intentionally mess up, etc. Student grades? Teachers can be easy graders. Any subjective measure such as using observation, etc is just that, subjective and therefore not so fair.
Instead, how about raising teacher salaries across the board? First of all, teachers deserve it. Second of all, raising pay would attract more bright young women (and men) who have been flocking to other better-payinng professions as oppertunities open to them. If teachers were better rewarded monetarly for their hard work, people willing to do the work would come. The problem now is that schools are filled with women who major in education as a last-resort because they aren't capable of doing more attractive, better paying jobs. By raising salaries, we could increase the pool of potential teachers, thus allowing us to be more choosey as to who we hire to teach our children.
It would also help to allow schools to choose who to hire to fill positions instead of basing everything on seniority. The seniority system allows a bad, but older teacher to get a coveted position over an excellent, young and energetic newer teacher. It punishes good teachers for being young.
In theory, it would be a great idea to pay good teachers more, but it is a practical nightmare. It scares me to think about where the path it starts us on might lead. I must say that as someone considering teaching as a career, it makes me less attracted to the occupation. If I teach, I want room to be in control of my classroom making my own decisions based on what I think is best for my students. I don't want ot have to worry about an evaluation of my teaching by someone else that will decide whether or not I make enough money to keep my house, raise my children in comfort, etc. I just want to be able to focus on the teaching of my students.
Instead, how about raising teacher salaries across the board? First of all, teachers deserve it. Second of all, raising pay would attract more bright young women (and men) who have been flocking to other better-payinng professions as oppertunities open to them. If teachers were better rewarded monetarly for their hard work, people willing to do the work would come. The problem now is that schools are filled with women who major in education as a last-resort because they aren't capable of doing more attractive, better paying jobs. By raising salaries, we could increase the pool of potential teachers, thus allowing us to be more choosey as to who we hire to teach our children.
It would also help to allow schools to choose who to hire to fill positions instead of basing everything on seniority. The seniority system allows a bad, but older teacher to get a coveted position over an excellent, young and energetic newer teacher. It punishes good teachers for being young.
In theory, it would be a great idea to pay good teachers more, but it is a practical nightmare. It scares me to think about where the path it starts us on might lead. I must say that as someone considering teaching as a career, it makes me less attracted to the occupation. If I teach, I want room to be in control of my classroom making my own decisions based on what I think is best for my students. I don't want ot have to worry about an evaluation of my teaching by someone else that will decide whether or not I make enough money to keep my house, raise my children in comfort, etc. I just want to be able to focus on the teaching of my students.