Posted on 11/19/2007 3:48:30 PM PST by upchuck
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) - Performance-based merit pay for teachers is a bad idea, Hillary Rodham Clinton told Iowa teachers on Monday. School uniforms for kids, however, is worth looking at.
Merit pay for teachers "could be demeaning and discouraging, and who would decide" who would receive it, she said in a meeting with teachers at Cunningham Elementary. "It would open a whole lot of problems."
Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner nationally, is in a tight race with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards in Iowa. Merit pay is a clear point of disagreement with Obama.
Last summer, Obama told the National Education Association, the country's largest teachers union, that the idea should be considered. Teachers unions typically oppose the idea.
Clinton said Monday she does support incentives for teachers who work in geographic areas and on subjects where there are shortages. And she has said she supports "schoolwide pay for performance programs because I think that the school has to be viewed as a whole unit with everybody working together."
On other topics at the school Monday, she:
- Denounced violence and profanity on television and in videogames, saying young children should not be allowed to play the games. "If someone came into your house and did and said the things you see on TV, you'd call the police," Clinton said.
- Said she supports implementing a school uniform policy so students, particularly girls, can focus on school and not peer pressure over what they wear. "Take that off the table and put the focus on school, not on what you're wearing," she said.
- Told a group of children her favorite activities when she was their age were reading and recess. Her favorite book: "The Nancy Drew mysteries."
- Said, "I want to be president to help every boy and girl have a better future, have the health care they need and get a good education and live your dreams."
The “problem” with Merit Pay is that there might have to be some metrics to measure.
And that would be a BAD, Bad thing for the Teacher’s Unions.
She supports TEAM EFFORT. So doesn’t matter if one teacher excels and you can see it in their students while the other teacher is a sluff off and you can see that too in those students. We cannot award someone a merit raise for achieving something can we? What in theeeeee hell does she mean who would decide? The people in charge would decide and they would do that by seeing the results of the students of the teacher who is up for the merit raise. hilllereee is a disgrace. She wants everyone to be the same except for her...
we wore uniforms and it helped a lot of families that could not afford “school fashions”. We felt VERY PROUD in our uniforms. Everyone knew where we went to school and we stood tall.
” They start asking questions like Why should I give you my money?.”
And what is it you actually do for me.... not the collective, including those who don’t really want to work to succeed....
I’ve been demeaned for years now, every time my company gave me a raise I was demeaned, go figure.
Teacher pay is not the business of the President or presidential candidates. It is solely the business of the local and state school boards. Of course Hillary would give a s&*%.
But in today's Disneyland mentality, adolescents are entitled to "freedom of speech" which dressing as they please clearly is. /s
Another state issue the feds will resolve, no doubt.
The sad thing about this is that teachers who deserve merit are stuck between choosing between the kids that need them the most vs. a raise.
She figures there are more bad teachers than good, so she’ll support the largest group.
Add a red neck scarf and you are now dressed exactly like the Young [Soviet] Pioneers...
...'n gettin' larger all the time.
HF
Didn’t Bill Clinton drop the school uniform idea in a State of the Union about 10 years ago? Then never heard from again, sort of like the ‘era of big government is over.’
Merit pay works pretty well in the public sector to promote productivity. The who, what and why of merit pay is obvious.
Even government workers get merit reviews.
Merit pay for teachers? Of course it can’t work.
I wish I worked for a union that could buy politicians as thoroughly as the NEA does.
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