Pet Peeves: Merit Based Pay for Teachers

I have been pondering what to make my next blog topic. Orginially I was going to write about the Democratic chairwoman but something regarding education on Facebook caught my eye. It was a poll asking you to “grade” the education system in Missouri. When I clicked on it, it took me to a Republican candidate for MO governor, Dave Spence, homepage. (http://www.spenceforgovernor.com/home/) After I voted I looked around his page to check him out. A lot of what I read pertains to education. Here is what he had to say:

Dave’s initial “Back to Basics” education reform principles include:

• Let Teachers Teach- No Child Left Behind along with state testing requirements has made the ability to truly teach and advance students a part-time job. We must eliminate busy work for teachers to make more time for individual attention with students.
• Reward the Best Teachers- We need to work with local school districts to develop a merit-based pay incentive for teachers that focuses on student improvement during a school year.
• Keep the Best Teachers- The “last in, first out” policy for teachers must be addressed at the local level. If a teacher with two years’ experience is getting results while a teacher with ten years’ experience is not, we owe it to the students to keep the best educator.
• Rescue Failing Schools’ Students- Kansas City and St. Louis schools need help and quickly. Quit the blame game and form a committed group of community leaders, parents and state policymakers to get to a sustainable solution.
• Re-emphasizing Local Control in the Administration of our Schools- Local school boards and superintendents need the flexibility to implement educational programs and systems that fit the needs of their communities.
• More Education Options for Students- Students should have the opportunity for a more individualized education. That means we need to expand options, such as public charter schools, for all public school students.
• Many Paths, Same Success- A four-year college degree is not the only path to a successful career. We need to assist trade schools and community colleges, as well as set up an alternative platform for the students that simply want to learn a life skill and go to work.

Overall, I like his plan, especially the last “many paths, same success” aspect of it. I have said for many years that we need to totally overall our system. But that is another blog entirely. The aspect I have the most problem with is “keep the best teachers” feature. Oh, my word!!! That topic gets me riled up faster than a red-eye flight from NY to London! I ain’t kidding! I get so sick and tired of idiots saying that teachers should get paid based on how well their students perform in the classroom. Ok, really? You really think that is the way to get more quality teachers in the classrooms? Do you really think that is going to spur on better teaching? Do you really think that is the fairest way to address our education problem? REALLY? Now, before you start shaking you head yes and saying “of course,” think real careful about what you are agreeing to…….Did you think it through? If you still think that paying teachers based on their students’ performance is a good idea, then I am here to BUST YOUR BUBBLE and to let you know that YOU ARE AN IDIOT. Yes, I said it: YOU ARE AN IDIOT. Period, point blank, end of story. You have NO IDEA what you are talking about.

But it’s ok, because I am going to tell you why your ignorance probably really isn’t your fault. Liberals and the biased media have been feeding y’all this crap for years now so you probably don’t know any better. Let’s just start off with the basics, you know, ease you into the reality that YOU ARE WRONG.

Your argument: Merit base pay keeps teachers “honest” and will make them work hard. Ok, while I agree this approach does have a place in the workforce, our school system is not one of them. What keeps a teacher from "cheating" especially if the pay is based only on how student perform in his/her classroom. Second, test scores have no bearing on the students. Whether they pass or it or fail it, a student has no ties to it except that it’s in their file. So, what do they care if they pass it or not? In fact, if merit pay went were approved, the students would have even more power than they already do in the classroom.  “How?” you ask, well that is simple: if they do not like a teacher they fail the test on purpose, duh! Are you crazy? If a teacher gives too much homework, makes tests too hard, etc. then all a student has to do is fail it on purpose to make that teacher look bad. And if you are thinking to yourself that kids wouldn’t do something like that, then you are some hippie who doesn’t live in reality! They would do it in heartbeat, believe me. So, if you are going to argue you this then you better make it worthwhile to the student to learn it. Period.

 Your argument: Merit based pay makes teaching fair for everyone, the good teachers get rewarded for good standardized scores.  Makes it fair, huh? Really? Idiot….how is it fair? Only the “core” subjects get tested at the elementary and middle/junior high levels. That is: Math, Communication Arts (English) and Science in certain grades. So, the rest of us don’t get raises? How do you base our pay? How about the Fine Arts teachers? Those who teach art, home-ec, band, choir, etc.? How is that fair for them? Do we start to test those subjects also? Or just cut them entirely? Here is a whooper, what about SPECIAL EDUCATION???!!! Those kids will NEVER be proficient and maybe not even basic on those tests! Give me a break!! You mean I am not a good teacher because my kids cannot read a test? Oh, wait, you didn’t know? Yeah, in the state of MO teachers are not allowed to read the Comm Arts portion of the MAP test to their students with learning disabilities. That means all school year teachers are required to abide by the Individual Education Plans that the state mandates each student must have if they qualify for special services, things such as modifying the test by making it shorter or taking the answer choices from 4 to 3, rewording the questions, and mostly reading it them. However, come standardized testing taking time teachers can only read the science (8^th grade) and math portions of the test! How is that fair? How does that even make sense? But moving on…..so how do you per pose making it fair for all teachers of all subjects with merit based pay? How exactly is that going to work? Loss for words? Yeah, I thought so.

Your argument: Merit based pay will remove the bad teachers. BAHAHAHAHA! This really does make me laugh out. Are you kidding? The biggest complaint I hear today is that teachers are not good at their job anymore. And there may be some value to this argument, however, bad teachers are in the system because they cannot get a job anywhere else and they know it. Your “good” teachers leave education because they get tired of all the bull crap that goes on public education.  Not only are the kids out of control with their blatant disrespect for adults and each other, but the parents are not much better. Everyone believes their child in an angel and a straight ‘A’ student. It is unbelievable! Students say how much they hate school, how Mr./Mrs. So & So gives too much homework or that “she/ he is tripping if they think  I’m going to that all that work,” or “I’m grown” and the list could go on and on and on.  And if a teacher does call a parent, the parent second guesses what the teacher tells them about their sweet, precious, little angel. They are shocked to learn that their child speaks that way, or doesn’t do their homework (uh, no books at home should have gave it away!!!), or that they can’t read or do simple math such as multiplication or division of 2 or 3 digit numbers, etc. So what about the parents? Where do they fit into this merit based pay, huh? Are they not a partner in their child’s education anymore? Or did I miss the memo where education was now 100% the teacher’s responsibility?  Give me a break and think this stuff through, will you?

Bottom line is this: merit pay is great in a business organization, but not in education. In business, what do you if you get 12 boxes of blueberries that are rotten or that are not quite ready to eat? Well, the rotten ones can be thrown away and the not quite ripe ones can be placed on a shelf to wait until they are ready to be eaten. In business you can chose not to buy from those sellers again or use that farm that you bought them from, correct? Well, guess what?! Teachers do not get that option. When kids come through the door that cannot read or write or spell their name or do multiplication facts, etc. they have no choice but let them inside their classrooms. Teachers have no choice but to let them take the same tests as those “blueberries” that are ready to be “put to market.” Teachers have no choice but to make the student, who is horrible in math, but great at drawing, take the test and fail even though they can paint like Leonardo. Do you get it yet? Do you understand that business does not function in education; especially not the way our system is ran today?

Do I have suggestions on how to fix our very broken and very outdated education system in the United States? Yes I do, but I have taken up too much time with this blog so I will address that issue in a later blog. Hopefully, it will be posted later this weekend.

Come on America! Let’s take back our Country! Let’s take back our future for our children!

Who’s with me?