Of late with the budget battles both federal and local taking place. I am hearing yet again the public outcry to fund the department of education; to pay teachers more; to give more money to public schools. While I agree teachers should be paid more for the importance they offer society. The data shows that funding of public schools is not the issue. I offer just one quick glimpse from one of many reports: cato.org/blog/public-school-spending-theres-chart Combine this with the fact private schools, where students excel over public school peers, but manage to operate at budgets about 34 percent lower than taxpayer-funded schools. What you see is the results of a competitive market place where teachers must compete for their jobs. Their schools are not getting more money as people would try to imply and yet public schools never stop demanding for more money as though this is the pancea for what is wrong in our system. When we were kids the US was within the top 10 in the world as far as education; now we are around 36th. The nations that score higher in annual comparisons, have a competitive market with higher paid teachers who are given autonomy from the state in many cases to prepare the lessons as necessary. Teaching many times is thankless. However, when professionals compete outside of a union enviroment you see the best performers rise to the top of their industry; engineering, medicine, skilled trades, etc, and thereby earn greater accolades, pay and benefits. The client or receiver of services benefits the most when professionals have to compete for their position. Would you hire the 8th best architect to build your house or would you prefer the 1st? Why are your kids less important. As a Master Training Specialist in the Navy; I graded our educators in the school house. There ARE standards you can apply in the classroom; whether presentation, subject matter knowledge or classroom interaction. Not everyone deserves to teach simply because they have the piece of paper; teaching also requires drive, talent, skill and art beyond the basic knowledge. Every professional system in the country has standards and measures of performance. Yet somehow we have decided that the noble profession of teaching in the US is beyond a similar comparison. So explain to me the performance of our children compared to the rest of the nations of the world? Does the evidence support this theory? Many teachers deserve more. I have benefitted from great teachers who were masters of their profession. They deserve to be paid for their skill and effort like every other professional; however, via equivalency there are some that have surrendered the right to even continue teaching that are protected by a corrupt system. An elementary school teacher with tenure is not teaching such revolutionary topics that their employment is threatened. This is not who tenure was designed to protect. When there is no competition there is nothing to separate the professionals from the amateurs... Too many educators have convinced communities that being a professional and warranting higher pay is limited to a simple definition calling a professional a calling requiring specialized knowledge and often long and intensive academic preparation. What the rest of business, science and industry (those fields for which educators are supposed be preparing the next generation) recognize that professionalism also includes; Competency Honesty and Integrity Accountability Self Regulation Image Yet unions protect teachers from many of these aspects; denying them true claim to the title. This is why teachers in the private sphere get paid more. If they are accountable for failures personally or professionally they get fired. If they are dishonest they are not protected by tenure. If they are incompetent they are judged against their peers and are forced to find other work. So yes; advocate paying teachers more; but hold them to the same standard you would any other professional.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 19:19:25 +0000
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