This is loosely related, but every time I think of public school teacher salaries my mind goes to the public school teachers I know. As a group they are… exceptionally ungifted. As just one example, I lived with two middle school teachers in Texas for a few years. They probably couldn’t pass the grade they were teaching. I have never met two professionals with so many credentials (MS in Education) and so little sense. My memories of friends in college who became elementary school teachers fall into the same bucket. Do others have similar experiences with teachers or do I just have a bad selection?
I think as a society, if increasing teacher pay gets us better teachers and therefore better educational outcomes then we should do it, hands down. But if that increase in pay gets us more of the same thing at higher cost to the public…?
I’m not sure which of these outcomes is more likely. The optimist in me says more smart people see educating the youth as a viable career and we get more competent educators. The cynic in me says it never works like that in a system as bureaucratic as education.
I think as a society, if increasing teacher pay gets us better teachers and therefore better educational outcomes then we should do it, hands down. But if that increase in pay gets us more of the same thing at higher cost to the public…?
I’m not sure which of these outcomes is more likely. The optimist in me says more smart people see educating the youth as a viable career and we get more competent educators. The cynic in me says it never works like that in a system as bureaucratic as education.
I don’t know what to think.