Dear Commons Community,

Nicholas Kristof (NY Times) in his column, comments on the state of teachers pay in this country.  Partially in response to the attack on public unions in Wisconsin and elsewhere, Kristof presents several informed opinions on the need to elevate the teachers profession  including pay if we want to improve the American public education system.  For example:

“Until a few decades ago, employment discrimination perversely strengthened our teaching force. Brilliant women became elementary school teachers, because better jobs weren’t open to them. It was profoundly unfair, but the discrimination did benefit America’s children.

These days, brilliant women become surgeons and investment bankers — and 47 percent of America’s kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers come from the bottom one-third of their college classes (as measured by SAT scores). The figure is from a September 2010 study by McKinsey & Company, “Closing the Talent Gap.”

Kristof also discusses that part of compensation is public esteem. “When governors mock teachers as lazy, avaricious incompetents, they demean the profession and make it harder to attract the best and brightest. We should be elevating teachers, not throwing darts at them.”

He closes with:  “Consider three other countries renowned for their educational performance: Singapore, South Korea and Finland. In each country, teachers are drawn from the top third of their cohort, are hugely respected and are paid well (although that’s less true in Finland). In South Korea and Singapore, teachers on average earn more than lawyers and engineers, the McKinsey study found. “

Tony

University of Puerto Rico – Bayamon