Teachers Pay

When reading the debate over whether Iowa should pay teachers more in the Des Moines Register, I was surprise to find that I agreed with more points made by the article in opposition (Andie Dominick) than the one in favor (Linda Fandel). I defiantly agree that the best teachers are the ones that love children and have the uncanny ability to connect on higher levels with them. These teachers who have these abilities need to be rewarded for their efforts. At most jobs, if you are doing well or excelling above your peers, you’re likely to get a raise. It’s hard to place some kind of reward system for teacher’s whose students perform highly, because studies have shown that, unfortunately, there are those out there that will more or less help the student “cheat”. But there needs to be some way to reward good teachers. The state of Iowa already has several awards for outstanding teachers, we should emphasize these awards, create more like them, and provide more funding to these awards. An environment conducive to learning can help teachers more than most could ever understand; new books, better technology tools, and supplies overall. Just because paying teachers more money overall isn’t the answer everyone wants, we can’t stop there. Iowa needs to continue its focus on education and make considerable efforts to improve, in what ever way we can.