Why teachers shouldn't get bonuses

Want better schools? Then stop treating teachers like children, and pay them like other professionals, says Howard Gardner in The Washington Post

In The Washington Post, Howard Garner argues that teachers shouldn't be rewarded with bonuses, and instead should be paid a steady salary, like other professionals.
(Image credit: Ian Lishman/CORBIS)

With the Atlanta school system reeling in the aftermath of a widespread cheating scandal, and hundreds of Washington D.C. teachers fired last week following poor performance reviews, the debate over how teachers should be evaluated, rewarded, and reprimanded continues. In The Washington Post, Howard Gardner, a Harvard Graduate School of Education professor, says that offering financial rewards to teachers who perform well isn't the solution to our schools' many problems. Rather, teachers should be treated as true professionals, just like doctors or lawyers. They shouldn't be rewarded or punished for students' test results, but should instead be paid a fair salary, and expected to perform their job well. Here an excerpt:

"What are the right incentives to have in place for teachers?" The very question itself is jarring. It implies that teachers don't want to perform well and that they need incentives, which in today's parlance translates into rewards (money) and reprimands (fear of loss of benefits or position).

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