And the Legislators Want
to Give Teachers a Raise?
Stupid is as stupid does so when someone pulls out the old "Thank a teacher that you can read or write" if you dare question the quality of the state's teachers consider the latest Tulsa Public School test scores.
An excellent article written by David Van of Sooner Politics lays out the dismal failure of the Oklahoma education system when only 21% of the Tenth grade students are proficient or above proficient in basic education subjects. Yet every speech or news story about politics always brings up the desire to raise teacher pay.
Any other industry that was failing massively would be driven out of business yet such is the poison we call government that we are worried about being noncompetitive with neighboring states and losing teachers. In fact, ought we not be encouraging the current crop of teachers to leave given these test scores? Perhaps weeding out the teachers that are motivated by money is best and finding teachers that teach for the love of teaching is the answer. I am sure that classroom discipline needs addressed but given the quality of education in Oklahoma who can argue that a pay raise is warranted?
