This article is Time Magazine's current cover story, and it is an examination of the state of teaching and teachers in America, and it examines a great deal of the topics that we covered towards the end of class on Tuesday evening. The collaborative work of the authors on this article uncovers and explores reasons for the teacher shortage, as well as, a very poor retention rates throughout the country.
From this framework the authors then examine various plans that have been proposed to attempt stem the tide of an education system that seems to be heading in the wrong direction. How can/do you truly reward those brilliant educators for a job well done? Though it gives it great consideration, the article moves beyond the merit pay option and begins exploring alternative avenues to reward. I was especially interested in the TAP system discussed towards the latter half of the article, because I feel that it is going to take this type of (teacher included) thinking to come to a viable and sustainable solution for the future.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1713174,00.html
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2 comments:
Good article and excellent post.
I do think the article misses two things:
1. It's not just about pay. The article mentions they teacher who left public school and went to a parochial school for less money, but doesn't really follow up. It's about autonomy as much as anything else.
2. The last paragraph says "If this country wants to pay teachers like professionals. . ." Well, that's a pretty big "If". Given the general trend of resisting any sort of tax increases and skepticism about public services of any kind, it's not clear that we care that much about teacher salary.
I thought this was a really good article in that it explains the rewards as well as the obstacles and difficulties of being in the teaching profession. One thing I found encouraging is the concept of merit pay. I agree we should be paid bonuses based on performance; besides it can serve as a great incentive and motivator to many.
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