Teacher Salaries Should Be Higher If They Are Effective

Doctors are responsible for treating patients in life-threatening situations. Lawyers protect citizens from arrest for a crime that they may not have done. These two jobs have very high salaries because of the importance that the occupation carries, but what about teachers? The people responsible for passing on the knowledge of many subjects to our future generations deserve to be paid more than they currently are.

Teachers are paid well under 100,000 dollars a year. Even though that is a very high salary, the good teachers are well deserving of that income. These people are in charge of leading children down a successful path in their futures. A good teacher can be the difference between a child failing, or reaching his maximum potential. 

One study experimented with the affect that teachers have on a students learning. Identical twins were taught the same material, in the same school, with different teachers. The study showed that one had much lower grades than the other twin because the teachers were of different quality. However, the teachers were paid the same because of the system that school ran. 

Teachers that post good exams grades by their students should be paid very well. Right now, pay is mostly based on experience in the job, but why should a bad teacher get paid the same as a good teacher due to longevity in the field? A considerably higher pay should be given to teachers who consistently help students achieve higher grades on state and national examinations.

Teaching a Child to Read: The Best Method

The pendulum continues to swing when deciding the very best method to teach young children to read. Throughout history, man has presented different ideas of how to teach reading. While there are surely many diverse reading methods available two main reading camps are familiar to most all reading educators.

Many people are familiar with teaching the reading process through phonics. Phonics is a reading method where children recognize letters and the relationship between the letters and sounds in the given language. Children use phonics as a system of rules and relationships for deciphering the written language. While this method has been tried and true, it has not worked well for all students. Another approach is often termed “Whole Language.”

Whole Language is reading approach taught from a holistic view. Students are immersed in the entire language, draw conclusions, memorize, and recognize words and letters to make a system that works for them. There tends to be more criticism with this type of reading system. Yet is works wonders for some new readers.

Teaching a child to read requires time, individualization and an open mind in order to make both the reader and educator successful. Both methods require students to work, study, and learn a systematic approach to reading. The arguments will continue to rage on as to the best method for teaching reading. One thing both sides will agree upon is that reading opens doors for dreams to come true and lives to change regardless of how they get there.