<p>I was reading Alan Greenspan's new book The Age of Turbulence when I found this interesting passage where he talks about education in America: </p>
<p>
[quote]
One of the skills too many high school graduates lack is proficiency in math. It is a skill more than any other that is required to achieve skilled-job status. . . . Yet people whose scholarship I respeck, and who are in a position to know [details of U.S. education], complain that the math teachers of my childhood have been replaced with teachers with degrees in education but much too often with no math or science degree or competence in the subject matter. In 2000, for example, nearly two-fifths of public secondary school math teachers did not have a major or minor in math, math education, or a related field. . . . Different pay scales for high school teachers in different disciplines may go against the ethos of teaching. Perhaps money should not be an incentive. But it is. . . . It is becoming increasingly clear that a flat pay scale when demand is far from flat is a form of price fixing that undermines the ability to attract qualified math teachers. Since the financial opportunities for experts in math or science outside of teaching are vast, and for English literature teachers outside of teaching, limited, math teachers are likely to be a cut blew the average teaching professional at the same pay grade. Teaching math is likely being left to those who are unable to claim more lucrative jobs. That is far less true of English literature or history teachers.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>In my school the teachers are decent, but I've heard stories where the math teachers don't teach anything. Do you think paying teachers based on specialty will help?</p>
<p>Since our school is a private one, the administration hires only teachers with a related major to their field of teaching. Sometimes, fields cross over. The APUSH teacher, for example, is very fond of making connections between math and history / general logic.</p>
<p>I don't think they should hire someone if they don't have any background in math, but then again, I don't know how many high school teachers have a degree in the subject being taught. That being said, I also don't think a math teacher should be paid more than, say, an english teacher with a degree in english.</p>
<p>In the past two years in math everyone relied on the book so ****ing much, only like 5 kids got A's, teacher was a lazy POS.</p>
<p>At my school every single math teacher sucks. We had one great math teacher last year but they fired him because the kids from other classes were going to him and asking him for help, so the administration was pretty sure he was turning the kids against the other teachers. We had a good teacher a few years ago but she went to work at a different school where they paid more. I am currently on chapter two of my 14 chapter algII/trig book. At this rate we'll have done 4 chapters by the end of the year. Sadly, the math teacher I have now has a degree in math from Villanova and was valedictorian but she has NO classroom management skills and no experience (she was an attorney before). Basically, I don't even require that teachers have a degree in math, but they really just need to have some training in actual teaching methods and classroom management. Sorry about my rant, but I haven't learned a wink of math in 4 years because of all the horrendous teachers my school hires.</p>
<p>it would be more fair i guess to pay someone based on what degree tehy have in relation to their subject field</p>