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Unfortunately, the sad truth is that market forces will dictate that there are few competent programming instructors for high school. If you're good enough to
by DevX101 15y ago
Unfortunately, the sad truth is that market forces will dictate that there are few competent programming instructors for high school. If you're good enough to teach and critique real programming projects, you're also good enough to get a job paying at least twice as much as a teacher.
For the teachers not necessarily motivated by money, they would probably prefer become university professors where they can do research and work at the cutting edge.
I'll make the guess that most of us here were self-taught to a large degree. Therefore, the realistic solution to the problem is probably not to get better teachers (which you can't do, since you won't pay them what they're worth). But to connect students to learn from each other. Exactly what the author of this post is doing.
- 3pt14159 15y agoSo it is non-market forces then. In a real education market teachers wouldn't have a salary that is function of time, but of the resolution of supply and demand. Parents, knowing that their child is interested in attending a school with a solid programming platform would pay more to schools that diverted resources towards this area. Those schools would be encouraged to locate competent teachers which they would do so with a combination of increased salary and possibly increased research time (or startup hacking time).
- DannoHung 15y agoThat's assuming parents value their child's interest correctly rather than using their own set of assumptions about value. For non-college education, it's almost a guarantee that the consumer of the education product is not the purchaser.
- jseliger 15y ago"In a real education market teachers wouldn't have a salary that is function of time, but of the resolution of supply and demand." That's true, but teachers' unions demand that, with very few exceptions, all teachers with x years of experience be paid the same amount, regardless of discipline or skill. I wrote about this issue some in "Are teachers underpaid? It depends": http://jseliger.com/2011/07/10/are-teachers-underpaid-it-depends http://jseliger.com/2011/07/10/are-teachers-underpaid-it-dep..., since I don't think one can address the issue of "teacher" compensation without looking at teacher expertise and opportunity costs.
- jmcqk6 15y ago>you're also good enough to get a job paying at least twice as much as a teacher. This is only if you assume that pay is their primary motivating factor. The best teachers out there don't do it for the money.