Merit Pay

by Pat Antonopoulos

Where to begin?
Maybe with the teacher facing 25 third graders from families struggling with poverty, poor educations, minimum wage jobs and run down neighborhoods.
Give that teacher a 'little blue book' with the requirement that classroom disruptions be noted in the book rather than sending the most disruptive child to the principal for help with behaviors. Of those 25 children take notice that 23 of them are so emotionally scarred that they constantly quarrel with one another, vie for the teacher's attention, and appear to have come to school without any training in self discipline.
Take a look at this teacher haggard by fatigue, frustration plus evening and weekend hours dedicated to the needs of the students. If the opportunity arose, you might notice that the teacher's personal money is being spent for classroom needs.
Over the past 15 years, maybe longer, teachers have been mandated more and more parental responsibilities. Many classroom discipline problems rarely existed years ago. Parents took responsibility for their children's behavior. Parents expected and insured that their kids knew what was expected in the classroom.
Behavior problems at school were quickly addressed at home.
And now? Now the teacher is expected to handle all those issues in the classroom and can even be criticized for the child's behavior! "What did you, (the teacher) do that created the situation whereby my child acts like this? What have you done to correct the behavior?"
Merit pay?
How?
Test scores?
Principal's anecdotal records?
Parent input?
The Merit rests in showing up every day...in caring...in making all the effort needed to educate the children so they can break the cycle.
If we want our children educated, parents must take back the responsibility of teaching appropriate school behaviors.
In the meantime, Merit Pay must include those teachers who continue to care about our children even in circumstances where test scores might not or cannot reflect the dedication of these teachers .