knew it would be a challenge for our community but you all have been great
about calmly and openly exploring the issue. The subject has a kind of taboo
about it and it is never easy to broach cultural prohibitions. Private
messages I've received may indicate that there are many others with opinions
on this subject who do not feel free to speak openly.
So why bring it up? Why disturb the community equilibrium?
I can assure you it is not done lightly. I've been teaching for 27 years,
I'm successful at my job, and am one of the higher paid educators at my
school. But I'm a teacher. I value the search for the truth, even when it
involves wrestling with difficult questions. I do not believe we should turn
off the constructive skepticism we work to instill in our students when we
turn to examine our own institutions.
So, with that being said, I have some questions.
One of the arguments that has been put forward to justify the growing
disparity between median head salaries and median teacher salaries is that
the headmaster job has grown to be more complex, difficult and full of
aggravation. The job, as described by many, sounds really terrible!
This leads to my first question. Virtually all heads started out as
teachers. Given the apparently incredibly unpleasant nature of headship is
there a long list of heads who have gone back to full-time teaching? If so,
it would be great to get one of these people to participate in this
discussion.
After reading a number of the rationales using the job difficulty argument
to justify the growing inequality in head /teacher median income, the
following thought experiment occurred to me.
Picture a room full of headmasters, most of whom are males. Now imagine
addressing them, and saying something like this. "It has come to our
attention that your job really isn't very pleasant anymore. We think we have
a great solution for you. There are not enough male teachers in most lower
schools. We can place any of you, who want to bail from your depressing
headmaster job, into a full-time teaching position in a self-contained lower
school classroom. But wait, it gets better! You know how that rapidly
increasing headmaster salary has been narrowing your focus and stifling your
creativity? Well, we can take care of that too. When you go back to the
classroom we will make your compensation one quarter of what it is now,
right in line with the other classroom teachers. What do you say guys? Any
takers for this wonderful opportunity?"
If you have read this far, and played through the scenario above, what do
you imagine the reactions of the heads would be?
I have many more questions but those two are probably enough for today.
Fred
[ For info on ISED-L see https://www.gds.org/podium/default.aspx?t=128874 ]
Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons, attribution, non-commercial, share-alike license.
RSS Feed, http://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?RSS&L=ISED-L
