I think it’s disapointing that the problematic children can’t be dealt with without bribes. A free solution might be to switch the incentive to behave from positive to negative, or to remove the children from the classroom when necessary. Or sending a note home. That may be an issue of school policy.

Many educators have suggested that throwing money at schools will eventually solve the problem. This has been disproven many times over. The critical elements to a school success are a positive relationship between student, parents and schools. The best way to foster this attitude that I have heard recently is to re-align schools along economic levels. All studies show that kids whose parents are in better shape economically and/or have a higher education level do better, regardless of the school’s budget or the salary of the teachers.

On the subject of pay…If your wife’s salary was doubled, would she teach better?

I think that teachers should get higher pay and more resources to properly educate children. My wife is a teacher and has to spend money out of her pocket to fill a treasure box, to use as an incentive for kids to behave. This enables her to properly educate the kids that are already being obebient. She also has to spend money out of her already low salary to decorate the room so that the children have a comforting environment to study in. If that isn’t bad enough, she has to eat her lunch at her desk because, that is the time dedicated for lesson plans.

After all of that, she gets a tax credit of $250.00 from the Internal Revenue Services.

The focus should be higher pay and more resources. My wife is the school math specialist, coordinator of the SAC program, and second grade teacher. She gets no extra pay to stay late and is coompletely dained at the end of the day.

Thank you