Teachers' salaries should be based on the academic performance of their students.Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing an

The way education functions, and the relationship between teachers and students, is a crucial aspect of society. It can be assumed that there’s a strong correlation between a teacher’s ability to effectively communicate the information and how much the student learns. However, that doesn’t mean that what the students learn necessarily translates to their academic record. Having teachers’ salaries be based on the academic performance of their students is based on a shaky, flawed foundation because the teachers may not always bear responsibility, they may be discouraged, or they may also weaken the education system as a whole.

Many teachers are definitely responsible for their students’ performance, and a weak teacher who has a difficult curriculum on paper may not effectively teach the material to the students, then causing them to not do well in the class. This isn’t always the case though. In reality, it may be that the teachers are well-equipped and strong in their ability to teach the material and it is the fault of certain students how well they do. If their salaries were based on their overall class’ grade, the many students who themselves don’t try or don’t do well would drop the class average down and would ultimately hurt the teachers’ salaries. It’s easy to blame teachers, but many times that is just not the case and penalizing them when they did their job correctly would be both unfair and illogical. This would especially be the case in lower education, before college, when we see a lot more students who aren’t adept at handling such work.

In direct relation to the above, not only would it not make any sense to base the teachers’ salaries on the students when the teachers themselves have not done anything wrong, but they may also be discouraged from even teaching. The “great” high school professor, who teaches the same material every semester, in the same way, may dread the students she may get at the start of every semester. She knows that she teaches the same thing to all students, and she knows that sometimes she can get a batch of kids who just don’t have the motivation to learn. She fears this because she knows her salary will be negatively impacted. She knows it is not her fault. Because of this, she may be discouraged from staying in the field. Many others who once had dreams of becoming a teacher will realize how fluctuating salaries may be and might then also decide not to go into the profession, which would damage the education system overall because of a significant lack of teachers.

The education system could also be damaged in a differing way. Not only can there be a lack of people willing to become teachers, but because of the new salary system, some teaches may just not care. Because they understand how they get paid, if a batch of kids who have a lack of motivation and who just can’t seem to grasp the material enter the class, then the teacher may then knowingly change his curriculum and completely transform the class. He may make the material a lot easier so the students are much more likely to succeed and get good grades, which would lead him to getting a much better salary. This is a very real possibility that many would take advantage of. If this was the case, students would go on from grade level to grade level without rally knowing all of the material they should by their age, leading to unsatisfactory students being able to graduate and advance in the workplace. Not only would the education system be impacted, but society as a whole as well. It’s a scary though to many, but also likely to happen if the salary rule was implemented.

Having teachers’ salaries be based off of the academic performance of their students would have possible advantages, like actually motivating the teachers themselves to become more adept and better instructors, which would lead to a better education for many. This would be a great advantage, but also one that could be possibly deferred by all of the other disadvantages that such a system could bring. There are just too many factors in play that would make such a rule unfair and unwise. Perhaps creating a new way of both weaving out the teachers who are at fault, and bringing in more satisfactory education would be ideal, but the solution would not look as clean and simple as the one here does.