Kansas City School Closings: Shaun Hautly

The education industry is just like the postal service, and just like every other business in the US right now. Every business is closing branches, reducing employees, and cutting the fat. Of course critics are having a problem with this. That's what critics do. However, the solution for the critics isn't one that we can afford right now, so we go to plan be. Now, we can either go to plan B and figure this out, OR we can go to plan B and complain about it for years, as I assume most critics will do.

Teachers and other unions have long since gotten away with grandfathering and longevity. Since the majority of teaching pay-scales are based on "experience" (time and formal education), there isn't much incentive for trying hard nor much reward for those that do. The idea of performance based incentives and pay-scales based on results isn't such a bad idea. Yes it would upset the dinosaurs, but it's time they go extinct anyway, and this economy is just the comet to do it. Our tax dollars pay for these salaries, and I wouldn't pay for some lazy mechanic to take twice as long to not fix a broken car, nor do I want to pay for a lazy teacher who is barely meeting the minimum requirements.

There is also strength for the students in larger classes. The social interaction is more comparable to the "real world." Large companies, competition, and reward for those who try harder and seek out their supervisors translate very well into larger schools. It's a tough-love situation at times, but coddling our children and not teaching them to excel and stand out is only going to hurt them as they inherit our recovering economy and job-market. Having them prepared to battle out tough competitors for a boss that appreciates it is going to be a lot better than teaching them to wait for a handout, and achieve average test scores.

Email Shaun
Follow Shaun on Twitter!