Does the Cost of Living Really Matter?

After reading an article, "Teachers' Cost of Living Matters More", I do feel that the cost of living should be taken into account when deciding a teachers pay. According to Georgiou, Villarreal and Moore, “the cost of living in San Francisco is 80 percent higher than the national average, largely because area housing costs are three times the national average”.  I think that it is only fair for teachers to be compensated in a way that compares to the national average. If the housing market is 3 times higher than the national average, teachers in San Francisco should not be expected to live on a salary from Memphis, where the cost of living is 11 percent below national average.

One could argue that if you want better teachers you have to pay them more. And while I believe this is true to some extent, I do not think that we can fix all of the problems with our education system by paying our teachers more. I do not necessarily believe that higher paid teachers mean higher test scores or lower dropout rates. However, on the flip side of this issue, I do think that under paid teachers mean lower test scores and higher dropout rates. There has to be some happy medium. According to the article, “Teacher pay is determined mostly by years of service and level of education; the grade level taught or a teacher’s effect on student performance are not considered, and advanced degrees are given equal weight.”  Cost of living is not yet a factor, but it should be.

I think that it is safe to say that most teachers are not in it for the money. I knew when I decided to go back to school, to get my license to teach, my dreams of being a millionaire were left to winning the lottery! However, it is also safe to say that most people decide to become teachers because they want to make a difference, in children’s lives and in their community. At least, that is why I decided to become a teacher.

Multiculturalism In Education

I really enjoyed the article "Multiculturalism in School Curriculum" by Adam Waxler. His perspective was very encouraging. Why should we teach each culture separately? We are a nation, a state, a classroom of multiple different cultures blended together; we should teach a history that incorporates them all. Not necessarily one history that includes all cultures, but each cultures history and how they affected one another. The term he used, “intellectual segregation” is great! I agree that by teaching each culture separately, like we do with ‘Black History Month’, is not the best way. I have always felt that the importance of a culture should not be limited to just one month. I remember only learning about different cultures, including black history occasionally throughout elementary school.  Should we not worry or care about how blacks, women or any other culture affected who we are and how we got here, during any other month than the one assigned to them? Absolutely not! The history of each culture has impacted this country and everyone it, we should be teaching this in a very integrated way.

I found myself nodding with the majority of the article "Toward a Centrist Curriculum: Two Kinds of Multiculturalism in Elementary School" by E.D. Hirsch Jr. I agreed with a lot of what he said. I particularly liked the quote, “Children will become adults who cooperate and sustain one another only if the school-based culture they gain makes them feel that they truly belong to the larger society. To create this sense of belonging for all groups has been the hope and promise of the United States in its best and most generous moments” (Hirsch Jr., E.D., 1992). If we teach our children that they all belong in school, they will feel that they all belong when they become adults. The opposite is also true, which is why I feel that having a multicultural curriculum is very important.

I loved the idea proposed by the Core Knowledge Foundation, that this country needs a core curriculum for each grade in elementary school. It makes sense to me, that every second grader, across the country, should be taught the same curriculum. I personally did not move from school to school as I grew up. However I remember a good friend who moved to my school around 3^rd or 4^Th grade, she was way ahead in some subjects and behind in others because her curriculum in her old school was much different than ours. The article also made a very important point that even if we do create this ‘centrist curriculum’ that we still have to make sure we are teaching them to read and write. The issues presented in Niko Kyriakou’s article "Organizers See 'New Civil Rights Movement' in Immigration Protests", in my opinion could be positively affected by a ‘centrist curriculum’ present above. The article describes the current issues with civil rights deals with “the interests of not just one minority but all migrant groups".  The issue, legalizing immigrants, is a huge political issue, by focusing on a small part; education, I think that having a standard curriculum across the country for elementary students could be beneficial.