Should Teachers Get Paid More?

According to survey information conducted by Senator Bill Bradley, in 1970 the difference in pay between a teacher and a lawyer was an average of $2,000 a year. Not very much.

Now, however, the difference in salaries has grown from that $2,000 a year to $103,000 a year. That's a little harder to swallow.

People have been complaining about the school systems and the teachers employeed by the school systems for as long as I can remember. Some people work to get certain teachers fired, others simply grin and bear the bad teachers and hold on to memories of their favorite teachers.

And there's no doubt that offering teachers more money could improve the school system. In return, we get better results, motivated students, and thought-provoking conversation within the classrooms. Teachers will feel more adequately rewarded.

But others tell me that if we began raising the wages for teachers, that the teachers would become more complacant with the students' learning, and that the school boards would be less likely to fire the bad teachers because of the cost to hire a new teacher. They think that first the teachers should begin showing results, and basically earn a raise in wages before bringing up the possibility of raising the wages alltogether.

And still others think that lawyers are just paid way too much, and that they should somehow be "forced" to lower their wages. I'm not sure about how they plan on accomplishing this under the capitalist ideals, but they seem to think that it's possible.

Still others seem to think that raising teachers' wages is a nice thought, but would ultimately fail because our educational system is already poorly funded, and where would the extra funds come from?

Personally, I think I would rather see my tax dollars going to pay the teachers than going to pay most any other professional.

What do you think?

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