Notorious P.H.D.
A long-time, much-valued reader of Teacher in a Strange Land, Carl Rosin of Radnor, Pennsylvania, sent me one of those Emperor-has-no-clothes stories this weekend: The school board in nearby Tredyffrin-Easttown--citing a budget shortfall--is proposing that the most expensive teachers (those with a Ph.D.) be demoted to part-time.
Lest readers assume this is a know-nothing school district where pointy-headed intellectualism is derided by the deer-hunter crowd, T/E is a top-performing suburban Philadelphia district, serving the Pennsylvania Main Line in Chester County. In 2008, Philadelphia Magazine ranked the district the best in the Philadelphia area.
Says Rosin:
Nobody denies that budgeting deserves the community's attention as a serious issue affecting education, taxes, etc. But this proposal may be the most hyperbolically obtuse "cost-cutting" measure I have ever heard.
In an era where all sides agree that education matters, and that teacher quality must rise, the symbolism alone should be powerful enough to derail such an ill-considered idea. What would it say to our students and our teachers if the solution to a tight budget were to take the people who may be the most qualified and derogate
Lest readers assume this is a know-nothing school district where pointy-headed intellectualism is derided by the deer-hunter crowd, T/E is a top-performing suburban Philadelphia district, serving the Pennsylvania Main Line in Chester County. In 2008, Philadelphia Magazine ranked the district the best in the Philadelphia area.
Says Rosin:
Nobody denies that budgeting deserves the community's attention as a serious issue affecting education, taxes, etc. But this proposal may be the most hyperbolically obtuse "cost-cutting" measure I have ever heard.
In an era where all sides agree that education matters, and that teacher quality must rise, the symbolism alone should be powerful enough to derail such an ill-considered idea. What would it say to our students and our teachers if the solution to a tight budget were to take the people who may be the most qualified and derogate
