Teacher Respect Argument

The United States today suffers greatly from a problem of enormous proportions, a problem rapidly disappearing in other countries in the world such as Japan, Finland, and Canada. This scourge not only puts many of the businesses and fields of today at risk, but also puts the American people at risk. This virulent epidemic is more of a deficiency but can still be deadly; I am discussing the lack of respect for teachers. While many experts all over the U.S. have given their two-cents on how to reverse this calamity, the view that I agreed with the most would have to be that of Zeke Vanderhoek, explaining his process to draw more talented teachers into the profession and keep them there for longer. Probably the one aspect of Vanderhoek's plan that would produce the greatest impact on societies views of teachers would be to pay teachers accordingly to the work that they accomplish. Today's society focuses more on money than just about every other aspect of a job before either pursuing the field or passing judgement on it. Doctors and lawyers receive more admiration from most Americans than teachers receive; One must then look at the salaries of the two fields compared, with the starting salary of a doctor and lawyer(the professionals in this case) being at least $100,000 per year, and with a teacher's being around $20,000-25,000. One of Vanderhoek's methods of raising a salary to a more appropriate level would be to limit the number of administrative employees in the school buildings to the few who are absolutely essential to the running of the school. This frees more money in the school's budget to give teachers a raise and reward them for good work. By allowing teachers to earn more money over time, a much greater number of students will desire to become to teachers, in turn increasing the likelihood of their actually being teachers present to teach the next generations of professionals. Without teachers to teach, the professionals will not possess the skills required for them to do their jobs properly and therefore can not make the salaries that they currently make. Professionals may be better trained than the teachers who teach them (and will also make a far greater amount of money over their lifetime), but the professionals can not get to this point unless they first learn the skills that are necessities for their fields; These skills, believe it or not, are taught by teachers, and without the teachers, the great number of professionals in the field today will soon dwindle to close to none, leaving America between a rock and a hard place. By increasing the pay of teachers, many teachers may also attempt to pursue higher education other than the basic requirement courses that are needed to teach at schools, therefore allowing a teacher, albeit one who knows their subject matter thoroughly, to plan lessons to keep students engaged and interested longer than they would be by just using a book and the school boards cookie-cutter lesson plans. The teachers that are creative and teach in different ways are often the most challenging teachers to pass a class from, but are also the favorite teachers among the students and often gain the respect and admiration that most teachers lack. While there are those who challenge this theory, bringing up arguments such as paying teachers better can detract from the overall functionality of the school as whole, with the money used to pay the new salaries restricting the ability for necessary resources of the school from being obtained, and also the argument that teachers will not teach better whether they make a larger salary or not. These arguments are completely valid, unfortunately in some situations quite true, but overall this will not be the case. With higher pay more people will want to become teachers, making the demand for teachers increase, allowing only the best of the best to become teachers, driving prospective teachers to gain as much education as they can to be selected for the jobs. This will increase the overall ability for teachers to teach their students, greatly improving their learning ability and their standardized test scores, which then results in more government funding for the school to continue operating efficiently and to continue teaching the students. So, whatever money is lost when the schools begin paying teachers with a higher salary will more than likely be gained back in the long run. While the plans look fantastic on paper and seem like such an easy solution, reality jumps to the forefront and shows the long, arduous road. Like life threatening illnesses, their is no simple, fix-all cure to eliminate all signs of the plague and destroy the source and immunize people. The process will take time and cooperation to fix the growing problem involving teachers. Let's all hope that the impossible can be accomplished.