[Peace] Merit pay for teachers, etc

[Jenifer Cartwright]

One of my concerns all along has been some of Obama's positions on education:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090310/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_education
 
I'm with the teachers' union in opposing merit pay for teachers (unless it's tied to an objective measure, such as additional training or service, etc that's available to all teachers). Teachers' pay should NEVER depend on student acheivement, and schools w/ poorest performing students require and deserve an INCREASE in funding, not a decrease: class size and programs that offer individualized help can make a difference, all else being equal (which of course it never is), so we do need more teachers and better programs, period, which cost $$$. Duh!! 
 
Union-busters want you to believe otherwise, but there are already union-sanctioned ways for schools to 1) evaluate teachers, 2) help unsatisfactory teachers improve their performance to satisfactory w/in a given time period, and 3) weed out incompetent teachers... and if/when this is not happening, it's the administrators' failure to do their job, not because of union safeguards.
 
Anyone truly concerned w/ EDUCATIONAL issues should be focusing on ECONOMIC issues like poverty ($20K cutoff for a family of 4 is criminal), and HEALTH and SOCIAL issues like universal health care (include dental), and tobacco, drug and alcohol use during pregnancy (especially) and beyond. 
 
Those charged w/ making educational policy and those defending ignorant positions (see above) need to get into their neighborhood public schools to observe teachers (generally pretty outstanding) and to serve as volunteer reading tutors for some of our struggling students (funding isn't there for paid helpers). These deluded idealists are fantasizing about a student population that doesn't exist in the US of 2009, and so they mistakenly conclude that students are failing because of poor teacher performance. To these folks I say: ah, if only. 
 --Jenifer  
 
 


      
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