Merit Pay

Every few days, another proposal for performance-rated pay for teachers pops up, sometimes in concert with claims that schools should be run more like a business. (Actually, I agree with that although almost certainly not in the way intended by the speaker.) That good workers should earn more than poor workers does seem appealing. However, when re-phrased as "more pay for better performance", alarm bells should ring. Good teachers should be paid more, significantly more, and at the same time, dismissing weaker teachers should be much simpler. I do not believe that merit pay for teachers can ever succeed.

Hiring a Pedophile

The international education press, in particular the British, has been agog with news of the recent suicide of an international school teacher. This American teacher worked since 1972 in nine countries, despite a 1969 arrest for child-related sex offenses. He was outed accidentally after he fired his cleaner who took a flash-drive in retaliation, on which she discovered disturbing images. This led to his suicide. Apparently, for many years, in many schools and involving many students he had been drugging and molesting students in his care and recording it. No-one had known, or nothing had been done.