OPRF is a house of intellectually rich, diverse, and hard-working staff that does everything in their power to make the best out of the students that are put into their hands. However, there is an issue with the distribution of rewards towards the teachers. As with any other field of work, certain people are better suited for their job than others with the same job. Certain jobs are more important than others. Some people work significantly harder than others. Currently, it is apparent that certain members of the faculty are making a significant amount more than they are entitled to.
Anybody can go online and see the salaries of all their teachers; juicy information. It almost seems wrong, but it's a temptation many, including myself, cannot resist. Upon looking at the listings of salaries, anybody with a predisposition that some are more worthy of higher pay than others may be quickly surprised. The highest paid teacher at OPRF is not scholar. It is a gym teacher. And this isn't simply an anomaly resulting from one single, hard working P.E. teacher. It is one of many examples of a common trend on the chart. Some of the highest paid teachers at the high school are, frighteningly, P.E. and Driver's Ed teachers. These are not fields that open doors to students in any way. While driving and personal health may be important, they are not areas of study that need to be shoved down our throats and that we should then praise excessively through massive salaries for their teachers.
As students, we need to decide to whom it is that we owe our debts. There ought not to be a reward waiting down the road for the teachers that are indifferent to the true need of the students, with that being academic enlightenment. We need passionate teachers that can nurture passionate students. For this reason, tenure ought to be removed from the system, and a reassessment of all teachers should take place. After this, there should also be a balanced redistribution of salaries based upon which teachers are most dedicated toward the pursuit of knowledge.
Although I agree that the difference between nonintellectual teachers and intellectual teachers is much to large, I believe there are certain justifications for this. Many of the P.E. teachers coach one or two sports, they are then paid for their contributions to those sports. Also, many of the p.e. and drivers ed teachers have been here for an incredibly long time; as a teacher teaches longer, his or her salary goes up, no matter where they teach in the school.
ReplyDeleteI think that you make a good point and there are some teachers which do not have the same passion for teaching that others do. However, Alex's point of the years teachers have been here is valid. Most of the gym and driver's ed teachers have been with the high school for quite a long time. Along with that, driver's ed and gym are the classes which teachers have to worry about the safety of their students in their class constantly, even more than science course teachers. In gym, students are more spread out and teachers have to be more attentive in a larger space, in driver's ed, it goes without saying the dangers that teachers face themselves being in a car with student drivers. I think that there should not be as large of a gap in salaries but the work they do has to be considered as well.
ReplyDeleteI believe that gym teachers and driver ed teachers are just as dedicated and passionate as other teachers. When your a gym teacher, as Sofie said, you have to deal with injuries and know a lot about how the body works. For driver ed teachers, it takes a lot of convincing to have a someone teach a kid how to drive, and to keep their cool while doing it.
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