There's been a lot of talk about the American education system lately.
From David Guggenheim's documentary Waiting For "Superman", which discussed the rough edges of American schools, to the battle of teachers unions vs. Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin, the spotlight has been on educators quite a bit recently.
That is now even truer as the result of a bill that was proposed by the Florida State Legislature, which would link teachers' salaries to the performance of their students.
In other words, it would make it so that the teachers receiving the highest ratings would be the ones making the most money. This is a stark contrast from other systems, which to award salaries based on seniority.
The proposed measure has met stiff opposition from teachers unions, which argue that it would decrease teacher morale, and that the bill as a whole is deeply flawed.
We think the teachers are right.
Admittedly, a bill like this seems like a sound idea at first. After all, no one could deny that some teachers just aren't very good. Some don't try very hard, and often times, after receiving tenure tend to coast, not caring whether their students learn or not.
Still, a bill like this is far too flawed and vague to work in practice. For one, it would blatantly favor teachers in schools with more resources.
A teacher in a poorly funded inner-city school has a much lower chance of reaching students than a teacher in a well-funded school that has more educational tools at its disposal. It would be patently unfair to the teachers in the less-wealthy districts.
Additionally, a bill like this would be a great deterrent to new teachers. Remember that when a teacher first enters the education system, he is inexperienced, and may have difficulty effectively reaching students right away.
This doesn't mean that teacher is bad; he is simply still learning. If a teacher with tons of potential is fired before he has a chance to improve and make an impact, that would deter other potential teachers from entering the field. It would be demotivational, to say the least.
While The Spectrum disagrees with the bill as a whole, we do think there are other ways to change the education system and fix the issue of complacency among public school teachers.
Many teachers stop trying because they've received tenure. Once a teacher gets tenure, it becomes very difficult to fire him. If that could be fixed, and it was easier to terminate teachers who receive tenure, the problem of ineffective teachers would decrease.
Fixing public schools is a key priority, and eliminating bad teachers is an important step to take. We simply don't think this is the right way of doing it. It's too flawed of a system to work in practice. With a few modifications and revisions, a bill like this might work. At present time, however, it would be best if this legislation were shot down quickly.
