Cephus
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2007
- Messages
- 31,034
- Reaction score
- 11,932
- Location
- CA
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Slightly Conservative
When it comes to children of poverty, i think it is more than 10% the teacher, but even if that's so, that's 3 students out of the normal class of 30 every year. That's a lot of productive citizens who won't be collecting welfare or burning up the tax money sitting in prison.
But, you do have a point: They can't do it just for the money. It has to be a calling, something beyond just pay.
Which is not to say that they shouldn't be paid more than they are, as they are contributing far more than they are costing.
A lot of them, I don't think are. I'd be entirely fine if teachers all made the same amount of money and, either on a quarterly or once a semester term, they were eligible for raises or bonuses based on the demonstrable improvement in their classroom. I'd love to see students required to take a standardized exam at the end of every single year of school, those scores become the starting place for the next teacher and on some interval, they get a bonus (quarter or semester) or a raise (annual) for beating some objective standard. If they don't make it, they don't get the money. We just need to make sure that the teacher is actually teaching and the kids are actually learning, the teacher or the school isn't just gaming the system.