Robert Reich via Facebook.com
In my travels around America on book tour, I've run into some people who blame teachers for everything that’s wrong with the economy. Teachers? I don’t know a more dedicated group of people. They shouldn't be blamed. To the contrary, they deserve more respect -- and more money.
Republicans prefer for-profit education. Baloney. Just like Republicans’ preference for for-profit healthcare, for-profit education is more expensive – including marketing, advertising, high executive pay, and lobbying (for-profits have spent some $40 million on lobbying over the past five years). And there’s no evidence for-profits provide a better education.
Interestingly, Republicans embrace the profit motive except in the most important respect. They don’t seem to understand that if we want to keep and attract talented people to teaching, we have to pay them better. The law of supply and demand isn’t repealed at the classroom door. According to a recent Brooking study, only 40% of top new teachers stay in their job more than five years. That's partly because teacher pay is low relative to the level of work, responsibility, and skills required.
We pay the typical hedge-fund manager more than a thousand times what we pay our typical public teacher. Yet hedge-fund managers just move financial capital from pocket to pocket. Teachers are investing in our future, and developing America's most important assets.
In my travels around America on book tour, I've run into some people who blame teachers for everything that’s wrong with the economy. Teachers? I don’t know a more dedicated group of people. They shouldn't be blamed. To the contrary, they deserve more respect -- and more money.
Republicans prefer for-profit education. Baloney. Just like Republicans’ preference for for-profit healthcare, for-profit education is more expensive – including marketing, advertising, high executive pay, and lobbying (for-profits have spent some $40 million on lobbying over the past five years). And there’s no evidence for-profits provide a better education.
Interestingly, Republicans embrace the profit motive except in the most important respect. They don’t seem to understand that if we want to keep and attract talented people to teaching, we have to pay them better. The law of supply and demand isn’t repealed at the classroom door. According to a recent Brooking study, only 40% of top new teachers stay in their job more than five years. That's partly because teacher pay is low relative to the level of work, responsibility, and skills required.
We pay the typical hedge-fund manager more than a thousand times what we pay our typical public teacher. Yet hedge-fund managers just move financial capital from pocket to pocket. Teachers are investing in our future, and developing America's most important assets.
Published October 11, 2015: 
