Playing with my money is like playing with my emotions.

So I got an email the other day exhorting National Board Certified Teachers to take to the streets to protest a proposed end to the 12% pay increase we get for being so darned awesome.  I was ambivalent: If giving up my 12% saves teachers' jobs, how can I not be for that? But there are reasons beyond my own greed (and desire for a new Kenneth Cole trench coat) that make me feel defensive of the pay increase.  Teachers are increasingly under attack right now.  The lack of respect for my profession is pathetic, but sadly, in many cases, the disrespect is not misplaced.  There are plenty of teachers who, to put it mildly, are not a credit to the profession.  Why are these people in the classroom?  Frankly, because it is easy to become a teacher.  It is certainly not easy to teach or to be a good teacher, but--at least in a decent economy--getting into the classroom appears to be pretty simple.  I keep reading bleak statistics about the number of teachers who were in the bottom half of their college classes, and it makes me feel depressed and defensive.  It's ridiculous that teacher has become shorthand for "academic lowlife," especially when my colleagues do not fit that description at all.  AT ALL.  The vast majority of the people I teach with--and all of the teachers I'm friends with--are working with some truly intimidating brainpower.  These people are in teaching because they are passionate about their subject matter.  They certainly had the option to pursue an impressive career in some other field, but they wanted to teach.    If this were the case in the entire profession, US public schools would be the envy of the world.


So much of the talk about education reform revolves around getting better teachers--teachers like the ones I know and respect--in the classroom, but unless teachers start to receive competitive compensation, what attracts top achievers?  As long as teaching is marginalized and maligned, we won't get nearly as many of the kind of teachers that we want and need in our schools.  Pay should be high, as should the respect accorded to the job.  That's how we'll get the best in our schools.  Teachers are expected to be martyrs, though--to teach for the love of the job, not for a paycheck.  Does my dentist drill cavities for the love of it?  Maybe, but I doubt she'd be all up in my molars for $30,000 a year.  I often hear the argument that paying teachers more will not make them better teachers, and I totally agree--but that's not the point.  Making teaching a job that pays well will attract better candidates.  I can imagine the hand-wringing: "I don't want my child to have a teacher who went into it for the money!" To which I say, as long as they're good at their job, who cares why they pursued it?

Anyway, all this justifies my desire to keep my 12%.  Taking things away from proven achievers is a step down the wrong road--what motivation will we have left?  Don't say little Timmy's smiling face--some days that just isn't enough.