Are fed workers overpaid

Superfreak said:
I bet I can pay the teachers more and still reduce the DOE spending. WAY too much admin in the public school system.

I would like to see a study on WHAT advanced degrees the public workers hold. Law is one where they can obviously make more in the private sector (unless you count bribes... then government employees with law degrees earn far more) ;)

For example.... if a teacher has a Masters degree in 'arts and crafts' .... they should be docked in pay for being so stupid. Conversely, if they have a Masters in economics and they teach a business/economics course... they should be paid more. My point is, saying 'they have advanced degrees' is meaningless unless we know that those advanced degrees are actually beneficial to their job performance. I could go get a Masters in Art History and it would do NOTHING for my current position.
Click to expand...

That's a rather bogus statement. If you are going to pay someone according to performance then they should meet specific performance based criteria before being hired and then to stay employed and earn raises or promotions must meet specified objective and subjective performance criteria. A Masters in Arts and Crafts Education is great if the School needs an Art instructor and that is the performance criteria for being hired but beyond that that individual must still meet the specific performance critera for that job to stay employed. If they do, then they have earned what ever wage, benefits, bonuses and perks that they have negotiated or contracted for.
 
Rana said:
Removing the sarcasm, I agree with you. Most school systems are too top heavy. The Anchorage School District requires continuing education for teachers if they want pay advances, so that Master's in Art means something here. I am sorry you hate arts and crafts, they are necessary for hands on and the children learn to use their imaginations, which Einstein stated was more important than knowledge.
Click to expand...
He kinda half assed his point. Who cares what the subject being taught is. If it is to be taught pay should be dependent upon both qualifications and performance. Personal advancement of ones education is well and fine and an excellent predictor of peroformance but not always. I mean to give someone a pay raise for earning an advanced degree that is not job/career specific is lunacy. If an art instructor earns a MFA from a top school and implements a top quartile study plan and his/her students earn high marks on testing on that subject then that instructor has probably earned a pay increase. On the other hand if a Chemistry teacher earns an MFA in art history from the University of Phoenix, well wtf does that have to do with teaching chemistry? Nothing and they shouldn't earn a pay raise based on that alone. If that teacher also implements sub standard study plans and their students struggle and score poorly on standardized testing and other performance criteria, then that Chemistry teacher should be demoted, placed on probation or terminated.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top