Let's talk about merit pay from two teachers' views.

[madfloridian]

One teacher was in a school in a deprived neighborhood. The principal was not a very good one. The county knew that, but they put their less capable administrators in the schools whose parents would not be too critical. The parents cared deeply about their children and wanted a good education for their children.

These parents lacked the money and community standing to be demanding of a principal. No one listened to them that much except the devoted teachers. Many did not speak good English, some spoke almost none. In the fancier schools there were people to help translate and aid communication. The poorer school had little access to specialists.

This school had much of the supply money shifted from it to a charter school, or a magnet school, or a school of choice. This school had old worn out text books. Yet when the students did not "produce" in the charter, magnet, choice schools.....they were sent back to the deprived school.

Guess what. The funds never came back with them.

The children were just like children everywhere, some were intelligent, some were challenged. But there were not the amenities or facilities provided for them.

While the poor school had old worn textbooks, the schools with advantaged students had in many cases two textbooks. One set for home, another set for school. Didn't want them to sprain their backs.

The difference was not in the children and their capabilities and intelligence....it was in the lack of resources that were desperately needed.

I taught in that school my last years before retirement. I loved my kids and gave them all that I could.

A neighbor taught in a prestigious school of choice. Her daughter attended there, and had two sets of textbooks. When we compared notes it was like night and day. She was stunned at our working conditions.

Let's compare our two classes one year. I had 32 in my class. 5 were severe Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD or ADHD). Two others severely learning disabled, with little access to any help but me. I did what I could. One was so disturbed that he would suddenly start kicking the wall, or banging his head on the desk. I referred for testing, got nowhere. The asst principal would carry him out of class when it got too bad. Then I had to settle down the class and start over.

My class was so busy with just getting by in life, coping with so many other things...that there was little teachable time left. It was not their brains or capabilities....it was the utter despair some felt.

My neighbor in contrast had the children of people who had the finances to provide what was needed. Children of doctors and professors who knew better than to send their kids to a school like ours.
They had access to home computers, tutors, anything they needed. The teacher only had to ask, and specialists appeared magically.

Needless to say my class did not score well on the state or national testing. It was not their abilities, it was not my teaching skills. It was trying to teach with constant disruptions, no help, and parents who were usually not willing to help at home. I did all the right things to teach them, but too many things got in the way.

My neighbor's class aced the FCAT and national tests.

Under the merit system Duncan and Obama are proposing, she would get a raise....and I would not have.

I taught human beings with hearts and souls and good minds, but life got in the way. I worked twice as hard as my neighbor, but it did not matter.

Children are equal, no matter their color, their race, their economic status. But unless we can address their problems of poverty, drug-filled neighborhoods, and often abusive parents...they will not ace tests.

That is the reality of what Obama is planning, and as a retired teacher I disapprove. He intends to keep the NCLB and apparently increase the standards.

The elite will come out okay in this, the others won't in the long run.