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Alabama State Senator Thinks Increasing Teacher Pay Goes Against A ‘Biblical Principle’
By Amanda Peterson Beadle on Feb 1, 2012 at 2:15 pm
According to Alabama state Sen. Shadrack McGill (R), the Bible says that increasing teacher salaries would only lead to less-qualified teachers. McGill said at a prayer breakfast that doubling teachers’ salaries — starting pay for Alabama teachers begins at $36,144 — would not help education. In fact, he said that keeping teacher pay low is a “Biblical principle“:
“If you double a teacher’s pay scale, you’ll attract people who aren’t called to teach.
“To go in and raise someone’s child for eight hours a day, or many people’s children for eight hours a day, requires a calling. It better be a calling in your life. I know I wouldn’t want to do it, OK?
“And these teachers that are called to teach, regardless of the pay scale, they would teach. It’s just in them to do. It’s the ability that God give ‘em. And there are also some teachers, it wouldn’t matter how much you would pay them, they would still perform to the same capacity.
“If you don’t keep that in balance, you’re going to attract people who are not called, who don’t need to be teaching our children. So, everything has a balance.”
McGill found justification in the Bible for not increasing teacher pay, but he evidently found nothing in scripture preventing him from approving a 67 percent pay increase for legislators in 2007, which increased annual salaries for the part-time legislators from $30,710 to $49,500. He said that the higher pay helped to stop corruption.
A 2011 report showed that while Alabama teachers have the highest starting salaries in the nation, the state lags far behind the national average for teacher pay. Currently, a part-time legislator in Alabama is making more than a full-time teacher with a Master’s degree and 15 years of experience.
-------------------- Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise. Posts: 3827 | From: beautiful California | Registered: Sep 2008
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posted
the same thing could be said about every single vocation- doctors lawyers and politicians-
this as been said about nurses before too, teachers and nurses are traditionally woemns jobs huh
the bible explicitly forbids usury too
look it up if you don't beleive me: Exodus 22:25, “If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.”
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
I say the same thing about millionaires. Huh.
-------------------- No longer eligible for government service due to lack of tax issues. Posts: 5178 | From: Up North | Registered: Dec 2005
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posted
I am not familiar with the Mcgill cat. I think the last part of Ray's post..... the part about Mcgill voting for a 67% pay increase for legislators is crazy. And I don't agree with his rationale for refusing to be in favor of a pay increase for teachers.
That being said, I personally don't believe that grade school teachers in general are "automatically" deserving of a raise. Although, public outcry tends to lend itself to the idea that they are. It seems as though everyone takes pity on the hard plight of teachers and seem to line up to petition the public in effort to give them a raise.
It is quite complicated but to simplify things, look at it as "return on investment." Our nation (for the most part) sucks at educating. Sure, we continue to produce brilliante and innovative people but is that the product of teachers. I personally think not. Rather, I would submit that for the most part, such people exist in our society in spite of our current education system. Teachers deserve a fair salary. No doubt. But let us not go overboard on their account. The truth is that their job does not really demand much in the way of dynamics. A teacher can develope a curriculum in the first couple of years and essentially not deviate much at all for the remainder of their 20 or 30+ year careers. I recently listened to a report on NPR that claimed that, in terms of learning, a physical teacher being present to deliver a lecture was no more effective than a pre-recorded message when it came to knowledge retention.
There does exist the concept that teachers have a tough job.... and I can agree with that. They do. But the tough aspect is in dealing with the kids..... not educating them. Many of us have said; "I couldn't do it", myself included. However, in my naive point of view K - 12 is the equivalent of daycare. That sounds harsh and disrespectful to many persons that have chosen that profession.... if that is the case it is not intentional on my part. I just see the entire thing as "broken." We have an education system that fails to do much in the way of educating. Teachers, through no fault of their own, are a part of that system. No performance, no raise.
-------------------- "The greatest argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter." (WC) Posts: 386 | From: Georgia | Registered: May 2009
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