(np) merit pay

[Michael Bailey]

there was an interesting book called Shelter which came out in the 60s,
full of designs for innovative houses and suggestions for people interested
in pursuing those ideas (seem to recall something like, "pack a bedroll
and travel the country with a sketchbook and camera recording all the
cool-looking dwellings you see...") and then there was a follow-up
called Shelter II if I'm not mistaken which contained an interesting
partial retraction (something like "most houses look like they do because
of a process of gradual improvement over millenia, so may not be
best to rush change...")

and this might apply to the non-cash environment of schools, for all I wot.

along the same lines I recall two different professorial stressings in
college, one of the theme "locus amoenis" applying to the campus
and what takes place there, and another (this actually from an
associate professor, or possibly not even a tenure-track fellow,
but a great lecturer and stimulator of discussion) of the idea
that the English course he was teaching (and by extension,
courses in the English department and maybe even the liberal
arts in general) had the singular virtue
of focusing on those things that DIDN'T revolve around money
and what it will buy...

points that did carry some weight then and still do now....

not to mention the inevitable difficulties grouped around teachers
empowered to grant cash (yes, I said reward performance on
standardized test scores, but in the back of my mind was also,
"do problems 1-4 for fifty cents apiece, a buck each for 5-9,
and for the bonus questions 10-13 each is worth 5 dollars" on
a regular basis): to wit, possible intimidation of teachers by students,
embezzlement vectors, whether to encourage or discourage collaboration
(difficulties implementing either course of action), how to
place values on different courses of study,
and of course the question of where the
money will come from...

still, like merit pay, there are probably ways to do it that wouldn't suck


287  	A Clerk ther was of Oxenford also,
288  	That unto logyk hadde longe ygo.
289  	As leene was his hors as is a rake,
290  	And he nas nat right fat, I undertake,
291  	But looked holwe and therto sobrely.
292  	Ful thredbare was his overeste courtepy,
293  	For he hadde geten hym yet no benefice,
294  	Ne was so worldly for to have office,
295  	For hym was levere have at his beddes heed
296  	Twenty bookes, clad in blak or reed,
297  	Of Aristotle and his plilosophie,
298  	Than robes riche, or fithele, or gay sautrie.
299  	But al be that he was a philosophre,
300  	Yet hadde he but litel gold in cofre;
301  	But al that he myghte of his freendes hente,
302  	On bookes and his lernynge he it spente,
303  	And bisily gan for the soules preye
304  	Of hem that yaf hym wherwith to scoleye.
305  	Of studie took he moost cure and moost heede,
306  	Noght o word spak he moore than was neede,
307  	And that was seyd in forme and reverence,
308  	And short and quyk, and ful of hy sentence.
309  	Sownynge in moral vertu was his speche,
310  	And gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche.




On Sat, Apr 17, 2010 at 4:19 AM, rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:
> Done because we are too men-ny
> the Duke, the maid, the Rothschild
> done because we are no pen-ny
> no he-she bar, jews, or cunt to sell
> the fluke, the made, the child
> done because we are too fun-ny
>
> On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 6:43 PM, alice wellintown
> <alicewellintown at gmail.com> wrote:
>> In America, money is sooo easy to come by. Poor people got no reason
>> to live. Poot teachers, those who can't and therefore must teach,
>> should be roasted, salted, seasoned, and fed a strong Irish diet; they
>> should be fatted-up on proposals modest and immodest, then carved up
>> and served with ales and Milton.
>>
>>
>