by Garrison Frost

The ongoing battle over salary and benefits for teachers in Redondo Beach has got me thinking. Let me say up front that my thoughts shouldn't be taken as a specific endorsement or criticism of the stances of either the teacher's union or the district. Their positions are part of an established and accepted perception of education funding philosophy. It would be impossible to suggest a solution to this particular dispute that is completely out of context.

However, it is safe to say that this context is out of order, dysfunctional. At some point we reached a point where we were all comfortable paying teachers — among the most highly trained and important laborers in our society — at a level barely on par with store clerks and counter help. Moreover, it seems to be completely acceptable to ask teachers to work without pay or even provide their own supplies.

Why is this? There are probably a lot of reasons, but I'm not so interested in them as I am in how this situation persists. My theory is that teachers, like journalists, have a strong idealistic belief that the work they do benefits society as a whole, and both often find this belief used against them. The fact that most of us accept without question that the work teachers do is invaluable to society doesn't seem to matter. Just the very fact that I don't have to spend 200 words explaining the value of the service that teachers provide should be enough to make my point.

But I should point out that teaching is not a second class profession, not in any empirical sense at least. Teachers — like stockbrokers or lawyers or doctors — need to invest heavily in themselves in order to do their jobs well. College degrees are a minimum requirement, and rarely will a teacher succeed professionally without ongoing training and substantial work experience. A great deal rides on the ability of a teacher to do his or her work well, and everyone can agree that a bad teacher can do a lot of damage to others. Much more damage, say, than a stockbroker, lawyer or middle manager.

And yet a starting teacher makes far less money out of the gate than a stockbroker or lawyer or middle manager. Moreover, five years into their careers these people are far outstretching their teacher counterparts. If a teacher wants to make more money in a related profession, he usually needs to go into administration or teaching teachers. But that requires a completely new skill set, one that has much less of a direct impact on the children — which is really where we want the best people to be.

This situation is terrible, and the fact that no one is willing to do anything about it is even more terrible. The idea that teachers have to threaten to strike in order to receive a 3-percent raise is unbelievable. Rational people don't go bargain shopping for someone to perform their laser eye surgery, but without hesitation we will insist on the least expensive teacher to guide our children's education. It's amazing, and if we ever want to resolve the creeping problems facing our young people today, this must stop.

* O.K., this is our third straight holier-than-though article related to public education in the beach cities. For those who may fear that we're beginning to obsess over this, fear not. It's out of our system now.

(Feb. 9, 2003)

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