The public school system in the United States is well known for being inadequate when it comes to training our youth in the essential skills they will need as adults. This is especially true in California.
The U.S. Education Secretary, Arne Duncan met with the National Education Association in San Diego in July 2009 to discuss ways to improve the school system. He proposed linking teacher salaries to student achievement to eliminate ineffective educators from the system.
While it is important to give teachers positive reinforcement for successfully teaching their students, Duncan’s proposal seems to put even more emphasis on good grades. Already there are too many students who just want A’s rather than wanting to learn. This leads to counterproductive practices like memorizing, cramming and even cheating. It helps to get the good grades but the information is rarely retained.
Who knows what could happen if the same pressure to get good grades is also put onto teachers? It could lead to giving out good grades to undeserving students in order for a teacher to keep her job.
It is certainly a tricky dilemma but something needs to be done to motivate our students to learn, not just to get good grades.
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