Hello Fellow Classmates,
I wanted to propose an idea in regards to social and economic justice. It is evident through the amount of time children spend at schools that teachers have a tremendous impact and influence on the lives of the future generation. Teachers receive an average annual salary of $38,000, which is comparatively less than a vast majority of professions, providing no incentive for teachers to excel in the classroom and provide a high quality education for students. Therefore, I propose that teachers should be paid significantly higher than a majority of professions in the country in order to insure a solid, well educated future generation. With investment bankers, entertainers, politicians, etc “earning” 6-8 figure salaries annually, the standard for what we value in society is diminishing. I further propose that individuals should get paid based on their level of impact to society. In other words, the more influence and impact an individual has on the development of the community, the more they should get paid. Teachers, Lawyers, Doctors, etc, should be paid higher than musicians or actors who merely serve as providing luxuries. There is something severely wrong with paying a CEO of firm $25,000,000 for his work on mutual hedge funds versus paying a high school science teacher $39,000 for guiding, inspiring, and educating hundreds of students. By paying individuals a certain amount of money, we are obviously setting a standard that society values a particular profession over another. Do we really want to say that we value a musician like Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em more than we value our child’s first grade teacher? What would a society be like if we had the finest people becoming teachers and psychologically affecting our youth?
-Abbas Rattani
This is an interesting topic that we discussed in our group today in class, and it is also a negative attribution that we gave to American culture and society as compared to other European states. When discussing our ideas with Professor Blau on how to create a "decent society", or what would need to ultimately change in order for this type of society to be successfully achieved, she posed the question of "why does America seem to have to deal with more individuals in society relying solely on/taking advantage of the welfare system when other European states, which are much more welfare oriented, don't really suffer greatly from this?" Among other explanations, my group discussed the need for standards, especially in education, that American schools lack. The lack of standards in American schools, particularly in inner-city schools, is in part due to the fact that teachers are poorly rewarded for their work. This also feeds into the discussion we had today about the need for incentives in a decent society, for without incentives people rarely want to work for the common good or even for the betterment of themselves (For this reason, we proposed that a mix of capitalism and socialism is necessary, and that too much of either is detrimental to society). A teacher has no incentive to work hard and be the best in their profession when they are not rewarded. The brightest in our society more often than not dream of being doctors, lawyers, business people, or professional athletes. These are the jobs that pay...and teaching in America doesn't. We can see evidence of this when we look at teachers in some of the most poorly funded public schools in the US. Not paying teachers properly is an injustice to society as a whole. As our group also discussed, the lack of pay that teachers receive is part of the cause and effect chain of the disappearing middle class in America, another reason we suffer from misuses and exploitations of our welfare system. Because teachers in inner-city schools especially are not usually qualified or experienced enough to teach, the children living in the most impoverished conditions are stuck there. Without access to good education or access to monetary resources, it is almost impossible for these children to better their situations and "escape poverty". Thus we only further the gap between the rich and the poor. The rich get richer, while the poor remain poor. This system, or lack thereof, perpetuates the sentiments of thousands of individuals within this country that suffer from being "a product of their environment". Without the access to proper education, many living in poverty see having a rewarding, well-paying, respectable job as unrealistic, something they can't obtain in the real world. They have the right to say "why should I even try? The kid with money who graduated from a private school will get that job way before I do." Kids living in poverty see the immediate rewards of stealing or selling drugs - these are "professions" that get them the money the businessman is making, and it is a "profession" that they can do regardless of what school they went to. This is a problem. We need better education, and equal access to education. To achieve this we must start with improving the quality of teachers we employ...which will be hard to do if their salaries do not increase.
ReplyDeleteThere was an interesting article we read in one of my Spanish classes last semester on the problems with the American school system and why students in America continually score lower on standardized tests than other students around the world. One reason was the lack of prestige and pay associated with being a teacher or professor. The article gives the example of France, and how many of the top college graduates there aspire to be teachers. We need to follow their lead.
I completely feel what you're saying and definitely agree that teachers are wrongfully and criminally underpaid. But you can't make a fair comparison of a teacher versus a musician in terms of wage. A popular musician doesn't have one source of income - he or she has severial ranging from endorcements to how many records sold. How do we regulate the amount they receive without completely infriging on their right to chose the occupation they want?
ReplyDeleteNot to mention, I think the influence the arts has over people is being completely over looked. Not just the most famous actors or prominent musicians have the ability to spread a message and, essentially, teach. Yes, there are art teachers and music teachers, etc., but what about the Opera? Or a play? Or an art gallery? I went to countless performances/museums in my elementary and high school days and I think the influence those places had on me stick out more than any classroom experience had.
I'm really uncomfortable with the generalizations being made about musicians and those in entertainment/arts. I don't know who's place it is to place value of one person's craft over another's. Yeah, it's criminal that Soulja Boy is a millionaire but how do you stop it? Stage a mass boycott?
I would propose that, in addition to teachers being paid more (obviously), that those who choose the arts as their career are given some sort of incentive for positively working and teaching youth through their craft. The arts aren't just a luxury - it's a necessity for any sort of well rounded society, which we determined in our list of attributes for a decent society.
-jenny