Obama to Clash with Teachers Union Over Merit Pay

The move is one that sounds good in theory, but may be more difficult to implement in practice. Basically, pay the good teachers more money and the bad teachers less. Make the bad teachers train more or leave the field altogether. The problem with this approach, as with every approach to try to standardize the educational system in this country, is that every school, every teacher and every child is different. How do you measure the progress of a school full of poor children from broken homes against one in an affluent area that enjoys full parental support and involvement? The answer is you can't. And once you start making those distinctions, the entire system will break down - again.

Teachers already despise standardized testing and the No Child Left Behind Act. Now Obama wants to throw another curve ball at the teachers, letting them know that if their students don't perform, they will pay the price. And again, back to the issue of just how student performance can and will be measured. Obama's not saying as much about that.

He's going to imply that standardized testing is not the answer, which everyone already knows. But then, what is the answer? What is the proposed solution to the problem? It's almost certainly not merit-based pay. The best teachers are the ones that carry on in the face of insurmountable odds and consistently discouraging results. They know that the majority of their students aren't going to get it because of family background or life disadvantages that simply outweigh any educational structure. But they go forward anyway and try to help at least a few of the kids who have a shot to make something of themselves. Under the merit pay system, these would be the first teachers fired.