Like many of you, I went to a party last night- about 20 of us, with plenty of food, drinks, board games, and a fireplace blazing as we waited for the New Year.
Midway through the evening, a half-dozen of us were eating some really great pizza and talking local (Oregon) politics. A friend who I hadn’t seen for awhile (I’ll call him Sam) clearly was seething about something- and we weren’t surprised when he started in on PERS (our public retirees pension system) and then on the schools. "Reading, writing, and math- that’s all they should teach until the test scores go up," he said. One of the other guys, who I found out later teaches community college part-time, shot back with "And history? How about critical thinking skills?" I laughed. "Right. Critical thinking skills. Right after responsible sex ed?" Someone else mentioned music, art, phys ed. But Sam was on his one note. "No, reading, writing, and math. None of the frills. And why are we paying our teachers like princes?"
A woman across the table with me piped up with "Yeah- they go through a few classes to get certified, get paid a bundle for 6 hours a day and only work nine months of the year-" and I lost it. "The hell they do! My fiance is nearly done with his Masters in Teaching [the basic teaching certification in Oregon] and he’s been working his butt off. And with cutbacks, there’s no guarantee he’ll find a job. As to the teachers we have already, when you add the grading, lesson planning, staff prep time, and reams of paperwork for the state, they work closer to 60 hours a week. For nine months. They only get paid for that nine months a year. The other three months they have to do continuing ed, more classes and seminars and such, and they spend that time not getting paid, but paying for the privilege of keeping their license current. As to the money, depending on grade level, new teachers here get 27 to 35k to start. Hardly rolling in dough, I think."
The high schoolteacher sitting next to the woman seconded my remarks. "I have Christmas break off, but most weeks I don’t get any evenings off- I come home with a stack of grading, and spend evenings trying to come up with lesson plans that will keep disinterested teenagers interested long enough to get the core material." Sam of course recited his ‘Reading writing, math’ mantra, and then turned on me. "And 34k sounds pretty good to me. A lot of us would kill for that."
"Be that as it may Sam," I replied, "Median income is roughly 52k. Some people in this state get paid less in their jobs. Why should we treat our teachers as the lowest common denominator? If we expect the best and brightest and then run them into the ground like we do, why can’t we pay them at least median? Personally, I think the people who we entrust with our children and their education ought to have rigorous training, yes, and then we ought to pay them in proportion to the value in which our children’s futures." (Cheers from the teachers in the room.)
He turned purple, and I think his wife calling from the next room was the only this that saved the conversation from getting ugly. But I was left there with my mouth hanging open and wondering- how could someone I call a friend, who is intelligent and educated, possibly feel that way about our teachers? And he has a five-year-old. What does he expect of her education? And why is it that we hear the same tired, ugly arguments again and again? And how can we change them? Until we change the dialogue (hmm... framing), we can’t change the attitudes.
It did put a bit of a cloud on the evening for me, and I left later a bit grumpy about it. Thought all the way home. Is there some way I can communicate these concepts to the public without pissing off old friends? And how do we stop the continued spread of the misinformation?
Anyone? Bueller?
[edited to add:] Wow! This is the first time I've gotten recommends! I've only written four diaries, but this is by far the best reception I've gotten! Thanks, folks!