Over the years, I have been writing about misconceptions regarding the schooling process. The purpose of these posts is to explain why I disagree with various comments that I have heard people make about schooling. These are meant as personal thoughts rather than conclusive proof, and I will admit that I'm not always the best at explaining my thoughts. Regardless, I have decided that I should be willing to share these posts when I encounter someone online who makes an argument that I have already discussed.
We need to pay teachers more money because they are currently paying for supplies out of their own pockets. Actually, let's think about that for a moment. There seems to be a bit of a problem.
What happens if we use the argument that teachers are spending their own money as justification to increase pay? Does that in any way address concerns of teachers spending their own money? No. It can make it easier for teachers to justify the expense, but they would still be paying for supplies themselves. This would allow the argument to persist, and teachers could keep asking for higher pay.
If supplies are really a concern, there are two options that seem to make more sense. The first would be to increase school spending with a focus on supplies. Considering how horribly schools tend to mismanage their substantial funding, I would prefer the other option.
I personally think that it makes more sense for schools to better utilize their existing funding. Let's cut back on administrative bloat. If we did that, we could actually increase school spending on supplies and give teachers raises. In all honesty, I'm not a fan of raises since teachers are typically doing more harm than good to their students.
If teachers really don't like that they are spending their own money, why aren't they asking schools to increase their budget for supplies? Why are they instead asking for raises? I think the answer is obvious. If schools don't pay for the supplies, the complaint will persist. No matter how much we pay teachers, they will keep complaining about spending their own money. They will be able to continuously use this as an argument that we should increase teacher pay.
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