3/15/2006

be rewarded for everything you do

this is actually an advert by hsbc on the front page of today paper.. what is interesting is that a big article on teachers leaving the service has this headline 'look beyond pay and career issues.' the article by victor ng beng li has an equally interesting starting paragraph..'the moe is planning to pay consultants good money to review teachers' pay and career structures...those who choose to leave or avoid the teaching profession are influenced not only by lacklustre remuneration or unpromising career prospects.' is victor suggesting that the good money should go to the teachers instead? but then again the headline said teachers should look beyond pay.. that explains it.. no need to pay teachers more.. just pay the consultants will solve the problem. unfortunately the teaching service is not noted for corruption. otherwise that would be a good reason to pay them more.. the only reason for paying them more now is to pay them enough not to leave. victor then provided 9 areas for the moe to look into.. i agree with doing away with assessments of senior teachers annually. i also agree with the quota of 5% D graders.. how could this be introduced in the first place? by having this quota, 5% of teachers, no matter how good, are already condemned before the assessment starts. but i think it is a bit exaggerated to suggest that it is too much of a chore for teachers to collect fees, forms, donation money etc.. the donation money part should be seen as an education in its own right. then the presumption that the teaching service is a demanding and stressful profession which implies that other professions are not demanding and stressful, is not really a good argument. quite a confusing article.. a simple solution to the problem, perhaps, tongue in cheek, is to create a myth that teachers too can be corrupt.. i say creating a myth, so teachers don't be angry with me.. that would provide a very good reason to jack up the salary of teachers to a level where they will beg to stay in the service. then there will be no problem of stress, unattractive career prospect, no prestige or self esteem etc.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

... I shouldn't comment for now on such MOE thingy... :)

Why not they pay me $12,000 a month to be consultant? :D

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

i will collect half of what they are going to pay and give them an answer in 24 hours.

elfred, why are you not in my forum?