LTTE: School, not corporation

[FLAprogressive]

I have read a number of letters comparing the role of teachers to jobs in the corporate world. The writers generally give short shrift to complaints about merit pay based on students' performance.

That set me to thinking about my career as a manager.

If I had an employee who was chronically late and therefore unable to complete assigned projects, I would begin with counseling. If the behavior continued after a number of sessions, I could terminate the employee.

Whoops! We cannot terminate children whose parents are unable or unwilling to get them to school on time.

If I had an employee whose family life became difficult, I would be more patient. In the end, however, the work had to be done. After all, just as your letter writers point out, my performance was measured based on how well my employees performed. Again, I could terminate the employee, but we cannot terminate children who do not have family support.

Read the rest: http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20110408/LETTERS/110409586/2163/OPINION?Title=School-not-corporation