Should Teachers Be Paid More? Essay, Research Paper

Oct. 12, 00

Amer. Schools Class

Should Teachers Get Paid More Because of Their Education?

I am not for sure, however I think that most people would agree with me when I say that teachers pay needs to be raised. However I think that a lot of people disagree over how it should be determined whether or not they get paid more.

An experiment being done in Denver’s public schools is a new idea that they are trying to implement, this is the idea that I agree with. They are going to try and give each teacher a bonus this will depend on how well there students do on standardized tests. The reason that I agree with this form of bonus system is that it bases the money they earn on how much they can make there students learn, I think that this is more important than the way that they want to do it here in Nebraska. From what I have heard here they want to base their bonus on how much education they have, that’s all fine and dandy but what happens when you get a teacher who is very bright and can learn anything but can not teach a single thing that they have themselves learned.

This journal is saying that instead of seniority, which is now how they rate how much you are going to get paid as a teacher, they say what I do about what you can teach to your students, but they also say they need to base it on how much of an education you have. They say that this is the most important; yes I agree it is important but I already said I think the most important is how much your students learn over the course of the year. The way that they are going to do this experiment is that they have chosen 450 teachers who are initially going to receive $500 to participate and they can make up to $1000 the first year. This is felt to be enough to compensate for the extra time the teachers will be putting in, however it is not enough to break the district. They have decided that after two years a panel will examine the programs efficiency and then experts will determine whether or not the plan can improve the education of all Denver students.

This program, no matter how well it works or how badly it fails is considered as a pilot program. Whether or not it becomes a full-blown program also depends on controlling the extra people it will take to run it. There are some other things that the teachers worry about, they are whether or not the parents will be against them and make it so their kids don’t progress as fast as they should, so the program fails and also, what if it woks, where are they going to get the money to do this for all teachers?

Considering all of this and knowing that I intend to teach someday I think that it is great that they are trying things like this right now and I am hoping that they will have it figured out by the time I get into the field, so that it will be settled by the time that I get involved.