My man, Obama, has come out in favor of merit pay for teachers.
This sent up a few red flags for me.
Let me e'splain. No, it's too long, let me sum up.
I've probably wrote about it before, but it's my blog and I'll repeat myself if I want to.
Here's the thing, non-teachers think that teaching is an A-to-B type process. Like an assembly line. And it's the farthest thing from that model. It's non-linear. It's round-about. It's chock full of tangents, sidebars, asides, diversions, digressions, and excursions. You know, things that can never be measured on a fill-in-the-bubble standardized test.
The flip side of the business model that NCLB tries to impose on education (besides the federal takeover of local education) is the total lack of control teachers have on the incoming status of their students. This is the glory and the pitfall of public education. We take everyone. No matter what. Weeding out the undesirables is a luxury for the private schools.
If I were a bicycle maker, I can control the quality of the parts I use, refuse inferior parts, reject parts that don't work right. And my pay can most surely be based on my production. But what if I had no control over what parts came to my station? What if I was told to make a standardized bicycle with whatever parts came in and I had to do it on the same timetable? Insane, no? This is NCLB.
People think that teachers, especially those of us in unions, are against accountability. Nothing could be further from the truth. We deal in accountability day in and day out. We're underpaid and, more often than not, under appreciated. You'd think we'd jump through hoops to make more money. So why not the merit pay? Because it's false and not not based on real education. True teachers aren't in it for the money. Are you crazy? What money? It's a calling, like any public servant. Well, maybe not like politicians. Sorry, Obama, even you.
So if my man can come up with some brilliant way to give teachers merit pay that's based on real education, I'm all for it. Really. I'd love to make more money. Are you crazy? But how are you going measure creativity, insight, inspiration, problem-solving, experimentation, and the aesthetic moment when time falls away and your soul is enveloped so deeply in something so moving there are no words for it?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Thank you Jen for your insight - I wish I had more teachers like you when I went to school. I had a few, but it would've been nice to have had a lot more.
If there are different ways a person learns, than there are different ways teachers teach. Different styles certainly can't be measured - teaching is not a one size fits all. Definately the most underpaid, under appreciated profession. It's the non teachers that think they know all the answers.
PS - but their food days are awesome!
I'd bet my miniscule paycheck that the teachers you remember the most were the ones who took the time to make a connection with you. Not the ones who coached you through the test to make themselves look good.
Yes, it's true, teachers rock at the potlucks. We're such nerds.
Consider your miniscule paycheck doubled.
Fabulous! Now I can come out to California to visit you. Swimming pools. Movies stars.
Post a Comment