Teacher's compensation...Could this be the Fix?

Question

The profession of teacher is questionably the most important to any society....The payscale however does not reflect its value, consequently the duty of teacher is sometimes diminished only to affording students the ability to pass a grade.

What if a teachers compensation was based in part upon the income of former students....

Each student and teacher is placed in a national database updated at each grade....

Example: Upon graduation from college or begining at a certain age, A fist grade teacher would receive as additional income .0001 percent of the tax income of her former students when they begin to contribute to our society.

Is this enough incentive to ensure that our youths are afforded the necessary training to become productive citizens?

Would this encourage better teaching ensuring that our children are better prepared for the global economy.

Answer 1

While I admire your good intentions, it's based on some flawed assumptions: teachers are the only factor that influence the success or failure of students in their lives/careers, teachers are solely motivated by money, and that most teachers aren't motivated to teach his or her students.

The success of a student is a team effort of the student, parents, and the teacher. Any failure of the three usually results in the failure of the student. Of course there are exceptions to this but, in general, the team fails if any member doesn't do his or her part.

As a teacher, there are many, many factors outside school I cannot control (but am held accountable): poor parenting, unmotivated students, truancy, etc. For instance, how can I be held accountable for teaching a student when he/she is absent 30-40 days of the school year? That's equivalent to 6-8 weeks of school! When students have learning disabilities and need extra support that I, as a regular education teacher, cannot sufficiently provide, parents often refuse special education support, leaving the student to flouder in school. For many kids, once they leave school, learning ceases. There are parents that don't work with their children, check homework, take an interest in what they're learning in school, or even read to their kids at home. From my experience, the most successful students both academically and socially are the ones that have good, solid parenting going on at home because they come to school ready to learn.

When one decides to become a teacher, he/she knows the pay will be much lower than other professions with similar educational requirements. Teachers do not go into the profession because they want to get paid well! Teachers are teachers because they love teaching kids. Unless you're a teacher, I think it's hard to understand the genuine passion and devotion most teachers put into their job.

Are there bad teachers? Sure. Just like there are bad police officers, bad firefighters, bad lawyers, bad businessmen, and bad politicians. However, the great majority are good, dedicated teachers that teach to the best of his or her ability and are not motivated by student performance money.

Is the current system flawed? Yes, but I know replacing it with another flawed system isn't the answer. However, I don't have an answer to the current system either!

Answer 2

So a teacher would get more money if his or her student became the CEO of a corrupt company like Enron than if the student chose to devote his or her life to working for an NGO that helped refugees in war-torn areas? Nice try, buddy.

When you include non-core courses, I had (AT LEAST) three teachers each year from K-5, eight per year from 6-8, and ten per year from 9-12.

3 x 6 = 18
+ 3 x 8 = 24
+ 4 x 10 = 40
__________

82

We're looking at at least eighty-two teachers per student. Then there were the teachers who taught for part of the year and left for maternity leave, and the substitute teachers as well. How do they factor into your grand idea?

Besides being a logistical impossibility, your idea places excessive emphasis on the importance of a high salary, and too little emphasis on the importance of finding a job that contributes positively to society and that the employee finds fulfilling.

Answer 3

Teachers #1 & 2 appear harmless and just friendly. Nicknames can be a sign of comfort level and usually means nothing. I had the same nickname because I get told I look like 'baby' in dirty dancing. Teacher #3 sounds like he's got a twisted fantasy and perhaps its with you? Proceed with caution. When I was in Jr. High I had bad skin, greasy hair and low self-esteem. But in High school I blossomed and grew a new outlook in life. What i'm trying to say is when your comfortable with who your are it attracts people you'd never think would be interested in you. It's a strange and new experience. Getting use to the new found attention can be frustrating and at times miss read. Teacher#4 seems to favor you perhaps with good grades? Or maybe he sees something special in you. There are people out there (mostly churchy do-gooders) who insisted on connecting with people by touching. Those people usually mislead others or forget about boundaries. I think you need to address the physical touching with your parent or someone your trust (perhaps a female teacher). Set your boundaries, pull away and let him know it's not okay. Did you know that most women effected by violence or inappropriate harassment start by say; "I didn't want to be rude so I stayed or I didn't fight back or I didn't say NO because it might offend him". Think about that are you being nice because your scared? Teacher #4 gawking at your while you groom is freaky (next time do it in a bathroom) avoid alluring more attention to yourself. He might of been embarrassed because he got caught starring and maybe he's thinking the same about you? Honey be careful and always follow your gut instinct- it never serves you wrong!

Answer 4

Unfortunately, the pay is not what drives teachers. If it were they would have given up their jobs a long time ago. Here's what can affect teachers and how they teach.
1. Spending a good percentage of your day disciplining the kids who do not know how to act because their parents don't teach them. When you're disciplining students, you are not teaching.
2 Cramming 35-40 kids in one small classroom. That is way too many.
3. Offering no other help within the school system for kids that need extra help. It leaves the teacher to teach to the kids in the middle as that's where most kids fall.

These are only a few of the issues that affect how well a teacher can teach. Pay is really the least of it.

Answer 5

Your plan is probably too cumbersone to implement and manage, even with computers. It would require much labor to put all the student and teacher data into the database, and the management and storage of all that data over the years from the student's kindergarten to college graduation. Also, higher levels of teacher compensation (pay) may not be payable. Enough funds may not come in from revenue to pay the salary of the teacher who merits a high level of pay computed by your proposed methodogy.

Answer 6

Good luck.

The teacher's union has extreme power. They do not like change even though the schools continue to get worse and worse. They will fight you to the end to maintain the status quo (of failure).