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I suspect that that if we could measure great teachers and great doctors to the extent that we measure great ballplayers, there would be orders of magnitude imp

by robg 18y ago

I suspect that that if we could measure great teachers and great doctors to the extent that we measure great ballplayers, there would be orders of magnitude improvement in their salaries as well. Baseball is a market economy like any other. If I had the skills to play professional baseball, I certainly would. The problem though isn't that the money isn't good in the minors. You can make 100k/year in AAA. It's that their careers are so short and their skills are highly in demand. Unless you make it to the big leagues and stick for more than six years, you still need to find another profession.

fizx 18y ago
The reason professional ballplayers make more, is that they compete in a winner-take-all environment. Thanks to televison, baseball playing is now "scalable." The world only needs ~500 pro baseball players to satisfy its baseball entertainment needs. When we can make doctors scale like that, there will be a few doctors making billions each. Teachers can scale by writing books, and they sometimes make millions.
ixnu 18y ago
Orders of magnitude? Are you arguing that the only thing standing between the best 2nd grade teacher in Harlem and millions is an efficient means of measuring talent? Major League Baseball is certainly not a market economy like any other - it is a federally-protected monopoly, or American Institution if you like.
- GavinB 18y ago
  If we could the quality of teachers with the precision that we measure baseball players, then yes, the best teachers could make millions teaching the children of the super-rich. Additionally, colleges would pay a premium to have the top teachers if they were measured by a universally acknowledged standard. You have to remember that there would only be a few hundred of them. I also expect that if you could educate a child with the best teachers, you would reliably get very effective adults. History is littered with geniuses whose students went on to make groundbreaking discoveries as well.

by robg 18y ago

fizx 18y ago

The reason professional ballplayers make more, is that they compete in a winner-take-all environment. Thanks to televison, baseball playing is now "scalable." The world only needs ~500 pro baseball players to satisfy its baseball entertainment needs. When we can make doctors scale like that, there will be a few doctors making billions each. Teachers can scale by writing books, and they sometimes make millions.

ixnu 18y ago

Orders of magnitude? Are you arguing that the only thing standing between the best 2nd grade teacher in Harlem and millions is an efficient means of measuring talent? Major League Baseball is certainly not a market economy like any other - it is a federally-protected monopoly, or American Institution if you like.

GavinB 18y ago
If we could the quality of teachers with the precision that we measure baseball players, then yes, the best teachers could make millions teaching the children of the super-rich. Additionally, colleges would pay a premium to have the top teachers if they were measured by a universally acknowledged standard. You have to remember that there would only be a few hundred of them. I also expect that if you could educate a child with the best teachers, you would reliably get very effective adults. History is littered with geniuses whose students went on to make groundbreaking discoveries as well.