Teacher: $60K Salary for New Teachers Proposal Defies Logic

According to Yahoo! News, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently proposed to increase the starting salary of new teachers to $60k per year. His proposal comes under the presumption that higher pay will lure brighter college graduates into the teaching field, thus improving student test scores.

As a teacher, my initial gut reaction to this proposal is not excitement over a boost in salary. My first instinct is, “He said what?”

Once you look past the outer layer, it’s apparent that Duncan’s proposal defies logic (and is pretty insulting to current teachers). As a licensed, highly-qualified teacher that has worked in both public and private schools, here are my reactions to this proposal and it’s confused logic:

1. The undercurrent of Duncan’s proposal is that current teachers are low-achieving

Supporting arguments are that the brightest, highest-achieving graduates are not drawn to the field of teaching because the pay is too low. Ouch.

Conversely, most teachers I know possess or are working toward Master’s degrees. Having graduated at the top of my class, with Honors, not only did I choose to become a teacher, but I chose to work at a private school with a starting salary around $17k. Quite the opposite from the typical view of greedy, incompetent teachers.

A further incorrect assumption is that anyone smart can be a good teacher. Being an effective teacher is more than just knowing a subject; it is understanding learning styles, teaching techniques, how to differentiate instruction to various ability levels, and how to reach students who don’t care. Teachers must manage classroom discipline, be organized, deadline-oriented, a team player, professional, flexible, and enjoy young students. Simply being good at math doesn’t make one an effective math teacher.

2. There is no way school districts could afford this

Current economic conditions force schools to cut staff and services at an alarming rate. Reductions in tax revenue and state funding lead to school closures, slashed budgets, large classroom sizes, cut programs, and major losses of teachers. It defies logic that someone could propose a salary hike for teachers with such an ongoing financial headache. Taxpayers would never vote for, or allow, such a measure.

3. The idea is, logistically, too messy

If new teacher salaries were to become $60k, what would that mean for existing teachers? With typical starting salaries in the $30k range, would this mean a raise for all teachers? Would there be pay differences based on merit, experience or education? And would the salaries of administrators and non-teaching staff also rise, or stay the same?

The proposal raises questions about changing teacher expectations, the status of unions, how/when teachers could be fired, and the control of federal government over local education. Overall, this proposal is too messy to work.

As a teacher, would I appreciate a $60k salary? Of course! Do I think it’s necessary or reasonable? Absolutely not.

If the goal of raising salaries is to initiate greater student achievement, then the idea defies all logic. There are plenty of other (and cheaper) ways to improve student learning, from team-teaching, to smaller class sizes, to greater parental involvement and scheduling changes.

Unfortunately, Duncan’s proposal doesn’t take any other factor regarding student achievement into account, other than the teacher’s IQ. Once we start realizing all the factors that contribute to education, other than just blaming the teachers, then we can start to turn around education in America.

Source:
Liz Goodwin, Should the starting salary for a teacher be $60,000?, Yahoo! News


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