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 I have been grappling with our class discussion and group commentary on what can make or bring good teachers to the educating profession. After our class, I encountered several formal and informal meetings that coincidentally went into the topic of teaching, teacher recruitment, TFA and teacher incentives/tenures. It amazes me that within all but one conversation, all groups and individuals believed that putting more money in the pockets of teachers (or in the least, incentivizing them) would improve teacher-to-student reception, and student learning capacity and teacher-effectiveness would increase. While I agree that teachers within the system need motivation as much as students do, I cannot stand behind the notion that paying them more or incentivizing their jobs will generate a motivation in line with improving effectiveness and quality.

 The profession does, as we said in class, need to be destigmatized. There are negative connotations attached to the pursuit of teaching that push many potentially gifted individuals away from the profession. However I do not believe simply increasing the salaries of teachers will relay the right message to pursuers or even truly destigmatize the profession.

 Furthermore, we must also take into account the effects raising teacher salaries will have on students, especially within inner-city schools. I was reading an excerpt from Jean Anyon's book Ghetto Schooling: A Political Economy of Urban Education Reform, and within a 10-year old student states, "Most teachers here don't teach us...because of the kids. They run the halls and makes the teachers upset...they think [teachers] just doin the job for money, they don't care" (Anyon 32). Personally, I wish this was the first time I've heard a statement like this but it is not. I have heard countless judgments of teachers from students who believe teachers are just in the classroom for their paychecks, paychecks that are not affected by student failure or success. If many students already believe that money is what brings their teachers to the classroom and rebel/are academically disturbed and unethusiastic because of that belief, the imagine what message will be further engrained or newly engrained.

 I am sure that something is working here also, psychologically, though I will probably fail to explain it technically so I'd like to save that discussion for my in-class facilitation (if anyone is interested in teaming up with me, that would be great!) Nonetheless, I would love for us to look at all the links and chains attached to teacher quality outside of the teacher.