ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 9, 1997 TAG: 9704090012
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN GOOLRICK
BACK IN the early 1950s, when I was in high school, I recall a dedicated teacher of biology named Emma 0. Euliss performing a small miracle.
She somehow got me interested in what I thought starting out would be a deadly dull subject. I believe I managed to get a B in her class, and Miss Euliss was a stern taskmaster who insisted that students earn their grades.
Most of us probably can recall a teacher or two who managed to provide enough inspiration to make us reach beyond what we thought were the limits of our capability. There is much truth in the bumper sticker slogan, ``If you can read this, thank a teacher.''
Taken in that light, it is hard for me to argue with Lt. Gov. Donald Beyer's proposal that Virginia teachers' salaries be raised over time to the national average. That would take them from the present state average of $34,755 to the national average of $37,685.
There are several catches to be overcome. The Beyer plan would cost $700 million or more, and financially strapped localities would have to kick in some $300 million total to get the $400 million of state aid that would be passed around.
Then, too, the plan would mainly benefit teachers in poorer localities, since average salaries of teachers in some areas, including Northern Virginia, are considerably above the national average.
Nevertheless, at a time the state is pressing for more vigorous standards for student performance at all levels, meaning more will be expected of teachers, increasing teacher salaries seems both fair and logical.
Even so, if pay is increased, then public expectations for teacher performance should be increased. Teacher unions in the state have fiercely resisted such common-sense ideas as merit pay - a system that financially rewards those teachers who teach better than most of their colleagues. The unions say merit pay would be arbitrary because no selection process used would be fair. But many educators disagree, saying just as it is possible to judge the best mechanics or lawyers in a field of mechanics or lawyers, it is possible to select those teachers who do higher-quality work and deserve more rewards.
Just as I was finding myself agreeing with Beyer in theory, I read a newspaper article that said a number of teachers were questioning new statewide tests to be given to public-school students on grounds that some of the questions were too "difficult."
Undoubtedly, there will be some parents who scream in protest when they learn that their children are being subjected to "difficult" questions on their examinations and may even - heaven forbid - be forced to repeat grades if they do not measure up to more rigorous standards.
But life is difficult. In fact, it is a lot more difficult than when I grew up long ago and learned the elementary facts of biology from Miss Euliss. I did not become a rocket scientist as a result and I really know little about science, but at least I learned a little about amoebas and cells and the things that make up the life forms in our universe.
As Beyer says, we should pay teachers as well as we can. Beyond that, we should expect them to show the same dedication to teaching that Miss Euliss demonstrated in a 50-year career, when her top salary per year, I daresay, never exceeded $5,000.
And for their own sake, we should demand that students from the very first day of school be subject to exacting standards. The world of the next century is going to be computer- and science-driven, and those who want to read are going to have to engage in stiff competition. Looking the other way while they dawdle and fail to learn, and then advancing them grade by grade to free up the space for someone else, is doing them no favor.
Let's find the means to give our teachers more pay, though I hope we will hear less from them about how unfair it is to judge them on their performance.
JOHN GOOLRICK, a former political reporter, is an aide to Rep. Herbert H. Bateman of Newport News.
LENGTH: Medium: 76 linesby CNB