There IS a Teacher Labor Market
I find it hysterical that so many of the "corporate reformers" also love to sing the praises of free market. They seem to believe that they can cap salaries and take away pensions, benefits, and workplace protections, but somehow still attract loads of qualified people to the field - in complete contradiction to their stated beliefs about the private sector.
Take tenure; somehow, the reformies think you can take it away and teachers (and potential teachers) will never notice:
Take tenure; somehow, the reformies think you can take it away and teachers (and potential teachers) will never notice:
Teacher tenure, in both higher-education and K-12 schooling, is an important mechanism for attracting talent. Stanford’s Terry Moe, a strong union critic, finds in his polling that “most teachers see the security of tenure as being worth tens of thousands of dollars a year.” His survey suggests a majority of teachers would need to be paid 50 percent more to give up tenure. Take away tenure without substantially increasing pay, and the pool of qualified candidates for the teaching profession is likely to shrink. (Although some might argue that talented teachers will feel confident and flock to teaching even without tenure, research has long found that self-confidence and actual ability are not