eggers on education

The NYT has an editorial today by Dave Eggers (of 826 Valencia fame .. and also some thing called Mcsweeney’s), among others, about teachers and education. Not exactly a groundbreaking opinion piece, but a solid one nonetheless:

Meanwhile, President Bush’s education law known as No Child Left Behind insists that by 2006 all teachers be “highly qualified.” A laudable goal, clearly beyond debate. But while school districts must find increasingly qualified teachers, the legislation does not provide enough money to substantially increase teachers’ earning potential.

Imagine that scenario in the private sector. A chief executive decides he wants better performance from his company. He issues a mandate that all employees be highly qualified. Then he proposes, as No Child Left Behind does, that the staff members be more tightly controlled, that they conform closely to his top-down directives and that they be tested yearly to keep their jobs. And he wants all of this without raising salaries a penny. Who would want to work for such an outfit?