The Absurdity of Basing Teacher Pay on Test Scores

On the surface, it makes a great deal of sense. Today's general population public education student is judged almost entirely by their scores on yearly standardized tests, so it seems rational to establish a teacher pay system based upon how successful students are on those tests. Teachers whose students perform exceedingly well on the tests are obviously doing a great job, and deserve to have a raise to go along with that job. After all, executives in corporate America get performance-based pay, why shouldn't teachers, whose job is so much more...

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Should Every Kid Get A Trophy?

There's an interesting trend in the relm of competition among kids, something that seems positive at first, but could actually be having a definite negative impact on society. It sounds great to say that every kid should get a trophy. Whether it's a scouting event, a junior sports event or some other kind of competition, these days the thinking seems to be that win, lose or draw every participant should receive a trophy. Sounds good, right? I'm sure adult leaders all over the country pat themselves on that back every time they hand a "Great Attitude"...

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