If Teachers Were Paid Like Athletes…

The combination of the start of school and the ridiculous amount of sports radio I listen to, prompted the following question: What if teachers were paid like athletes?

As with the last will-never-happen-in-a-million-years scenario, a few concessions need to be made. So let’s just assume that the education system operated like any other legitimate business: over time, good ones succeed, bad ones fail. Let us also assume that the term “budget cuts” doesn’t automatically put education at the front of the line and the children wouldn’t suffer if a school goes under due to leadership incompetence, poor hiring decisions, bad planning, or any of the other numerous reasons some schools come up short.

So, what if it were normal for public grade school teachers to enter into multi-million dollar contracts? Would it make for a better overall education system? Part of me thinks it would but another part of me thinks it could be disastrous. I think, with this large pay scale in place, there would exist a much better system for evaluating the effectiveness of teachers. With that kind of money being thrown around, you better believe the people signing paychecks would want to make absolutely sure they know what they’re getting if their “education business” is to be successful. I think it’s safe to say that, as the system exists now, a mediocre teacher can sneak by year after year because there’s not a really good, objective way to measure effectiveness.

One might point to the ever-changing standardized state tests as a gauge but the mediocre teacher can circumvent scrutiny by simply “teaching to the test.” We’ve all sat in that health class where the coach, masquerading as a teacher, is too busy gameplanning to be bothered with the thought of imparting wisdom on his (or her) students. Of course the day before a big test, he (or she) will make absolutely sure his (or her) students know what to study for, if not give them the questions on the test verbatim.

Athletes are graded. Their strengths and weaknesses are usually known league-wide. How helpful would it be to know which teachers are good at what and which ones are terrible at everything? The teacher that has all of their students transfer out of their class might need to look for a new profession, whereas the teacher that needs extra seats in their classroom might be due for a raise.

Or we could send struggling teachers down to the minors or the development league where they would have to endure more economic accommodations and minor league students. But I would hate to see what those students did to wind up there.

The large paychecks would attract a plethora of talent but probably even more unqualified candidates on a money-grab. This should raise the barriers for entry and, if done right, would flood schools with the talented educators that deserve to be there. And with a better system in place for keeping good teachers and exposing those not doing their job well, schools could thrive.

But as with all things involving large amounts of money at stake, the potential for cheating and corruption are high. No matter the severity of the punishments and the precautionary measures in place, a few bad apples would slip through. It could be the high-ranking, highly-paid principals that have grown accustomed to a certain lifestyle but have grown tired of the grind looking the other way when their own “brother-in-law deal” went bad. Or the guidance counselor that gets a little too money hungry and starts “guiding” students to the universities and trade schools that send him or her kickbacks.

Classrooms could turn into captive audience advertising boxes as teachers would be allowed to sign endorsement deals with Trapper Keeper and Mead Paper. Classroom walls could start to look like NASCAR. Hopefully we could avoid post test interviews like the following:

“Yeah, you know the Sharpie, Paper Mate, Crayola, Fiskars team brought to you by the number eleven and the letter “G” really stepped up today and came through for me. We were a tad worried about Little Johnny’s reading comprehension level but fortunately it turned out to be an eyesight issue and the great people over at EyeMasters really pulled through. You can’t say enough about the McGraw-Hill folks either. We came out and gave it our best effort and were able to pull out a 92.7 average. We’ve still got some things to work on but we’ll come back out in another 6 weeks and try to do it again.”

Did I miss anything in this hypothetical? Let me know in the comments below. Share this post with your teacher friends too.