Bill Gates is for Saving Schools

Despite the misconception of everyday people, Bill Gates has led the front in funding projects for the betterment of society in the United States. He uses his well-placed knowledge, as well as his money, to tackle the hard problems of the American people. His current focus is education reform and presents compelling ideas that could reshape the ineffective structure. The idea of payment based on effectiveness is particularly interesting,

He suggests they end teacher pay increases based on seniority and on master’s degrees, which he says are unrelated to teachers’ ability to raise student achievement. He also urges an end to efforts to reduce class sizes. Instead, he suggests rewarding the most effective teachers with higher pay for taking on larger classes or teaching in needy schools.

I tend to agree with this idea because there are teachers who proceed with teaching simply because of the big pay-off at the end, rather than a sustained joy in their career. Younger teachers who have new teaching methods that work, get snuffed out when budget cuts roll around, which I see as unfair. The school boards argue against this idea with:

“We know that experience makes a difference in student achievement — teachers get better,” said Bill Raabe, director of collective bargaining at the National Education Association, the largest teachers’ union. “And additional training, too, whether its a master’s degree or some other way a teacher has improved her content knowledge, we think it ought to be compensated.”

Granted that a master's degree should be rewarded, but if they are ineffective at conveying their curriculum, then what is the point? Evidence of higher learning should be apparent in test scores and grades, not in how many years a specific teacher has under their belt.