[quote=AN][quote=CA renter]
No, definitely not. In education, the public school districts are much more likely to have higher standards, and higher pay. A lot of teachers work at private schools just to get the experience needed/desired to be hired by a public school.
Agree with your sentiments regarding this story, flu. It’s sad, because a good math teacher who can really motivate students should be able to make a very comfortable living, IMHO.[/quote]
Agree, good teachers should get paid more comparable with other profession in total compensation. However, the bad teachers should get fired more easily, just like every other profession in the private sector. Not all teachers are good. We should reward the top performers and punish the poor performer. Not make their salary similar. Then what incentive is there to be the top performer?
10 years experienced teacher should be making around $120k. Just like a 10 years experienced Engineer with a Master degree. But at the same time, such teacher shouldn’t have pension or tenure either, just like a comparable Engineer.[/quote]
It’s a complicated issue, largely because public employment has a political component that doesn’t exist in the private sector. As a teacher, you’re subject to the changing winds of state and local politics, and public perception. People in the public sector — especially administrators — tend to have more “dictatorial” traits (for lack of a better word), and with every change in administration or in other, political positions, teachers have to deal with new dictates, opinions, and pedagogy.
For example, at one elementary school, one of the principals would walk down the hallway, listening to teachers to see if anyone was using phonics instruction. This principal felt strongly about the “whole language” approach, and would write-up anyone who was using phonics, even if it was just a component of their teaching. The next principal was just the opposite, and demanded that all teachers use phonics, instead. The teachers not only have to deal with these VERY opinionated administrators, they also have new materials, techniques, and mandates that come from the state or federal level.
Teachers tend to feel pretty strongly, themselves, about what to teach and how to teach. Some teachers have many decade’s worth of classroom experience, and have seen all these methods come in and out of vogue over the years. They know what works for their students, and many feel that they have to stand their ground in order to teach, as opposed to promoting someone’s political agenda (as is often the case when people from outside of the classroom try to change things).
As you can imagine, things can get pretty heated when teachers oppose administrators and/or politicians regarding these topics, and this is one of the reasons for tenure. You really have to understand the personalities involved in education. It’s like a collection of kingdoms, where everyone wants to tell those below them what to do. Teachers need to be able to fight back, if it’s in the students’ best interests. While a few bad apples might be protected, I think it’s still a better system than one where there is constant teacher turnover and low morale.
BTW, it’s not like teachers can’t be fired. I’ve personally seen it happen on a couple of occasions. It’s just that teachers, once tenured, cannot be fired without cause. Principals simply have to follow certain procedures in order to substantiate their reasons for firing someone. Personally, I think it’s a better system because the administrators cannot simply fill a school with people who agree with them. They might have political motivations — many public administrators want to move into politics. Teachers need to be able to withstand the ever-changing fads and trends of the day, so they can focus on teaching the students, instead.
As for higher pay…nice in theory, but will probably never happen. School districts are hurting even in the best of times. California’s #1 expenditure is education, and we all know the state’s finances probably aren’t going to recover in the near future. We’re stuck with over-crowded classrooms and under-paid teachers, at least for now.
