http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/25/student...index.html

Quote: Duncan told a room full of science and math experts of the National Science Board on Tuesday morning that this will hurt the United States as it competes internationally. "We are lagging the rest of the world, and we are lagging it in pretty substantial ways," he said.

"I think we have become complacent. We've sort of lost our way."

He acknowledged that in some areas of the United States it is hard to find good math and science teachers. To solve that problem, he said, "I think we should pay math and science teachers a lot more money. We pay everybody the same. We have areas of critical need -- math, science, foreign language, special education in some places. I think we need to pay a premium for that."

The National Education Association, which represents teachers, argues against such a proposal.

"Simply being a teacher of a hard-to-staff subject does not equate with effective instruction, and therefore, should not be rewarded in-and-of-itself through a salary differential," the organization says in a position statement.

I wonder if history professors at Rice make the same as engineering profs?

The sooner we start teaching academs about the real world, the better. And the sooner the compensation for pre-college educators reflects the competition for real-world employment positions, the better.

(08-25-2009 05:08 PM)Fiftysix Fortytwo Wrote:  The sooner we start teaching academs about the real world, the better.

But that happened, would they still be academs?