Today I am participating in Fun Monday, a pretty cool process I equate to a “posting party”, in which a different blogger hosts a topic each week and other bloggers weigh in.
Today’s topic, hosted by MommyWizdom was: If you were ruler of the world/country/town for a day/week/month/year, you would…
At first I was thinking about what I would do if I was the ruler of my house, which despite my charades, we all know this is not the case. The dog rules the house, then the boys, then Dave, then me. I just make a lot of noise. Noise is not power.
So instead, I am thinking about education today. Dave is a teacher – and an excellent one at that. He is away this week, teaching other PA teachers about using technology in the classroom- and I am missing him. So…
If I were ruler of the country for a year, I would change the way teachers are compensated. (These thoughts below will either result in a really amazing homecoming on Thursday – or my divorce.)
1) I would raise all teachers’ salaries by at least 50 percent. Yes, that much. I can’t think of a more important job with more responsibility than motivating, educating, and preparing our children. Public school teachers’ salaries around my region start at around $40,000. If you started at $60,000 – with a cap of $150,000, not only would we be rewarding the professionals who are working so hard on behalf of our kiddos, but we would probably attract the best and the brightest to the profession. I truly believe that there are many intelligent, motivated college graduates who would choose teaching as a profession if the salary was higher.
2) Teachers’ compensation should be merit based. In every other profession (almost) you are rewarded for the job that you do. Shouldn’t the teachers who do outstanding work be rewarded for that work? I realize this is subjective – but isn’t it subjective in all professions? Surely a measurement system can be designed based on the goals of the schools and the classrooms. If the current salary system is too complex to change to a meritocracy, then give bonuses – and big ones!!
3) This is the one that might get me divorced because I realize that this is heresy for some educators. But I would eliminate tenure. I do not see why good teachers need job security in this day and age. All tenure does, in my humble opinion, is protect bad teachers who have been teaching forever from getting fired. The unions can still be helpful in fighting age discrimination – and there should be policies to protect those older teachers who are doing amazing jobs from being replaced. But straight tenure for every teacher does not serve the students. It hurts them.
So there you have it! (Hon, I hope you still love me.) Now go and check out what everyone else said today at MommyWizdom. And I hope that Jennifer and I can host a Fun Monday in the future.
*I’m sure he does*