Bragging Rights for WV Teachers
There is good competition and there is bad competition. Bad competition is characterized by efforts that sabotoge, handicap, or even deny the rights of others totally to be in the game. Good competition is demonstrated by leveling a playing field so that everyone has equal opportunities based on their individual will, intellect, skill, abilities and support systems to achieve personal and community-wide goals. I believe in good competition. You and I, as citizens of West Virginia, are our teachers' support system and, conversely, our teachers are our children's and our state's education, health, and economic development support system.
To be democratic, in its ideal sense, means that we want every citizen of our state and nation to be at their personal "best and brightest" in whatever area of industry that they decide to undertake for their private and our public good. What can policy makers do to make it possible for WV teachers to have a stature second to none among others in the United States? If we want to compete in today's global knowledge economy, why do we pay teachers so much less than we pay so many others in jobs of less importance to our social and fiscal welfare. Teachers deserve, and hence, will receive occupational prestige in some states.
The concept of occupational prestige centers upon the granting of deference to an individual based on their attainment of values and achievements perceived as meritorious by a socially held consensus of the particular group. Sandefur (2001) observed:
without the judgment of ‘greater’ or ‘lesser’ there can be no deference. The entitlement of deference arises out of respect and admiration that is deserved in the sense that they are grounded in the values of the group in which the person is esteemed or he role is considered prestigious. This sense of value is both a qualitative statement about what is valued and a quantitative or ordinal statement about what things are valued above others (p. 383). What we need in WV is an emphasis on the quantitative statement coinciding with teachers salaries. We already believe that WV teachers possess saintly qualities who agree to work for salary contracts far less than what they can receive in neighboring state localities, but even this observation misses the total point. Why don't we set the standard instead of allowing other states to determine our valuation of our teachers, which should be higher because we have more educational problems than neighboring states requiring resolution.
The stakes are high and the situation is quite dire. Let me assure you, if anyone in our country understands what competition is all about, they are our nation's teachers. The K-12 system in WV since 2002 has adopted the 21st Century Skills program, and admirably West Virginia is in the vanguard among only five states undertaking restructuring to assume true leadership in educational reform. A top quality program should contain measures allowing merit increases when warranted and overall fiscal accountability as well.
The teaching profession ensures our hope for a possible tomorrow. The locality pay argument takes away from the importance of a competitive statehood and US posture in a global economy argument by muddling the message and lowering the per capita educational spending in some counties. The message that needs to be sent to every teacher and every student within our state is that regardless of where you live in the state of West Virginia, you deserve, and will receive, well paid teachers and a world-class education, the envy of less progressive policy leader states elsewhere in the region and country. Teachers in every county could afford higher priced houses because the standard of living would improve for the entire state, not just a few areas.
Pamela Sanders Ellis
Sandefur, R. L. (2001). Work and honor in the law: Prestige and the division of lawyers’ labor. American Sociological Review. 66(3), 382-403.
