It is ludicrous to think that the education system would improve if we raised the average income of teachers to match the income of doctors and lawyers. Raises alone are not enough to improve education. Just because a teacher would make in the six figures doesn't mean he or she would do a better job. Also, where would the money come from for this increase? Taxes would be ridiculous if teachers were paid so much. What must be done in order to improve the education system is to end the tenure system.

The tenure system is when teachers keep their jobs during layoffs only because they have been in the school for a certain number of years. Just because a teacher has been teaching for fifteen years doesn't mean s/he is better than the new teacher down the hall. As some teachers get older, they become quite lazy and do not work hard; of course this is not true of all teachers. On many occasions a bright young teacher is laid off while a lazy older teacher keeps his/her job.

To prevent older teachers from becoming lazy, and laying off young teachers, a competency test should be instituted. Once a year teachers could be tested. The tests would include a poll of students and parents; opinions of peers; a report from the department head; and a visit by an unbiased outsider. The outsider would sit in on a day of classes, and then write up a report and submit a copy to the principal, the school committee, and the teacher. Teachers who receive bad "grades" would be marked for possible termination; teachers who receive high "grades" would be rewarded with a bonus.

The competency test would increase the quality of education in America. It would also make teaching a more attractive profession to young people by ending the instability of a possible termination during a recession. n