The Heritage Foundation has issued a report which concludes, in the words of the Laura Clawson at the Daily Kos, that public school teachers are overpaid and stupid. Her analysis stands on its own, but I can’t resist adding another observation.
If one applies the free market principles that the Heritage Foundation always claims to believe in, its conclusion can’t possibly be true. If teachers were stupid and overpaid, then smart people would gravitate toward teaching and take the jobs away from the overpaid stupid people. On the other hand, it is possible that teachers are underpaid and stupid, in which case, the free market solution would be to raise their salaries, thereby attracting smart teachers. The present right wing solution is to de-unionize the teachers, which would take care of the “fact” that they are overpaid, but it wouldn’t do much to deal with the alleged stupidity, which of right ought to be the primary concern, assuming (a ridiculous assumption, I know) that we all share a common objective of giving first quality education to our kids.
This all, of course, assumes that people teach only for the money and are motivated by nothing else. There are, undoubtedly, stupid teachers, just as there are probably smart Republicans, but for the most part, they are smart and underpaid. Not a one of them but does more good than any hedge fund manager.
Post a Comment