Introduction for MWP2

America today is facing one of the deepest economic downturns since the great depression of the nineteen thirties. Many individuals have proposed a plethora of solutions, but many sociologists agree that the best long term solution to this problem is that we as a nation improve education in this country. One way of improving education is to provide students with very high quality teachers. Again, there are many propositions as to how to improve teacher quality, and one of the best ways to do that is to increase the salary of a teacher and hence the prestige of the job. Though high quality teachers are the solution, not individuals who would be good teachers and spend the time and money training for this career are not willing to become teachers because of the low beginning salaries and low salaries in general. Teaches do not have high enough salaries for the work they do which leads to other problems like poor quality teachers, and hence poor education in America’s school system, so the people of America should promote laws and encourage congress to pass bills that would increase teacher salary.

MWP2 700 word rough draft

America today is facing one of the deepest economic downturns since the great depression of the nineteen thirties. Many individuals have proposed a plethora of solutions, but many sociologists agree that the best long term solution to this problem is that we improve education in this country. One way of improving education is to provide students with very high quality teachers. Though high quality teachers are the solution not many well trained individuals are not willing to become teachers because of the low beginning salaries and low salaries in general. Teaches do not have high enough salaries for the work they do which leads to other problems like poor quality teachers, and hence poor education in America’s public school system, so the people of America should promote laws and encourage congress to pass bills that would increase teacher salary.

            The problem will be defined as the low salaries teachers in America receive. The solution will be defined as increasing teacher salaries and doing this through the promotion of policies that promote those increases. In this paper high teacher quality will be defined as a teacher who is well trained and competent in their job, and provide their students with a good education. Teacher salary will be defined as the amount of money a teacher makes in the beginning of their career, and throughout that career. Policies will be defined as laws and bills that will raise the beginning and overall salaries of teachers. Prestige will be defined as respect and admiration and considered level of achievement of quality.

                      Good teaching is crucial to the success of our nation. If children can have a firm base and a good education they will be able to be more productive higher contributors to our society. According to Michelle A. Rhee in her article, “Policies Should Reflect The Importance of Teaching” she describes a study conducted by Harvard that found students go further in life and have a higher quality of life if their teachers were high performing. In his article, “Teacher Quality: What’s Wrong with U.S. Strategy?” author Marc Tucker describes how other nations are achieving greater education standards, what they are doing, and what the US should be doing for education. For example he says, “One key to Singapore’s success in attracting high-achieving high school graduates into teaching, he said, is making sure that compensation is not an issue when these graduates select a career. To do that, the Singapore government sets beginning teachers’ compensation at a level comparable to that of the other leading professions. In Japan, salaries for beginning teachers are about equal to those of beginning engineers.” If American teachers were paid as much as engineers the US would have a great amount of high quality teachers. In the article, “The Social Position of Schoolteachers Expectations and Realities” by F.G. Ziiatdinova the problems with the Russian education system are discussed. America holds a lot of the same values of prestige of the teaching profession that Russia does.

            This problem in education has the power to greatly impact the entire nation. In the short run poor teacher compensation effects teachers directly, and like a pebble that is thrown into a pond and created a ripple effect, student are effected, and eventually our entire nation. It is The cause of the problem is that teaching is not viewed as a prestigious job and the governments is not willing to increases taxes in order to increase teacher salary, nor are the people willing to pay higher taxes for an increase in teacher salary. People today are beginning to see the correlation between importance of teachers, quality of teachers, and prestige of the job in a monetary way. There is a phrase that states it is easier said than done, Americans need to step up to the plate, understand the importance of education, and be willing to pay higher taxes for higher salaries for teachers. As a nation we also need to write letters congress, and make the government pass the laws that will increase the teacher salaries.

            The future of our nation is at stake. We as the people of this great nation are severely lagging behind in the way of education. By increasing the quality of teachers in schools students will be able to obtain a better education, and one of the best and most reasonable ways to get higher performing teachers into the school system is to increase the teachers beginning and overall salary. Teacher a crucial and important members of our society, and only by the America public speaking up and voicing the need to enact policies that will increase the salaries will the problem be solved.        

Next 3 Precies for MWP2

In the article, “Teacher Attrition: A Critical American and International Education Issue,” author Marianne K. Dove claims that poor compensation for teachers is the single biggest cause for poor quality of teachers. She develops and supports this claim by discussing why teachers leave the profession, their salary, the quality of teacher preparation, working conditions and the costs of attrition. She describes the needs for better teacher compensation in order to show the need for quality of teachers in America. The intended audience is the general public and citizens of America.


 In the article, “The Social Position of School Teachers: Expectations and Realities,” author F.G. Ziiatdinova discusses the low prestige of teaching in Russia. The author develops and supports this claim by providing many facts and statistics that show that people do not care for nor respect the work of teachers. The author examines the problems with the poor recognition of teachers in order to show the world that teachers are a vital and crucial part of society, and necessary to its survival for the better education of students. The intended audience is the citizens of Russia, and also the American citizens because America holds their teachers with the same amount of respect.


In the article, “Why Do They Stay? Elementary Teachers' Perceptions of Job Satisfaction and Retention,” authors Beverly A. Perrachione, Vicki J. Rosser, and George J. Petersen discuss the intrinsic and extrinsic variables that influence a teachers job satisfaction. The authors develop and support this claim by revealing the results of a study they conducted on job satisfaction. They explain the strong dislike for the profession in order to inform the reader of the conditions teachers work under, and promote better conditions for the teachers.

MWP2 second article précis

             In the article, “Policies Should Reflect The Importance of Teaching,” author Michelle A. Rhee asserts that policies and practices in America should reflect how important teachers are. The author develops and supports this claim by providing many studies that show how students with good teachers go further in life and explaining the cause and effect of teachers on society. She explains the importance of good policies for teachers like high salaries, in order to promote those policies and get American policies to reflect the importance of American’s teachers. The audience is American voters and law makers in America which can be detected through subject matter.     

Working Thesis for MWP2

         Teaches do not have high enough salaries for the work they do which leads to other problems like poor quality teachers, and hence poor education in America’s public school system, so the people of America should promote laws and encourage congress to pass bills that would increase teacher salary.

MWP2 Summary of the Issue

The problem is that teachers in America do not have a high enough salary for the work that they do and this in turn takes away from the quality of teachers present and hence education available to students. This problem affects a plethora of areas and the entire nation presently and over time and many people, but the individuals that are most affected are teachers and students. Many individuals do realize how vital teaching is to the success of a nation, and how increasing teacher salary would increase quality of teachers. The cause of the problem is that teaching is not viewed as a prestigious job and the governments is not willing to increases taxes in order to increase teacher salary, nor are the people willing to pay higher taxes for an increase in teacher salary. People today are beginning to see the correlation between importance of teachers, quality of teachers, and prestige of the job in a monetary way. Though some action has been taken the process is slow and met with resistance. Sociologists among other individuals are beginning to write articles promoting the need for an increase in teacher salaries. Research studies show that there high teacher salaries were a top factor in distinguishing between top performing schools and low-performing schools. People have not succeeded in helping teachers get higher pay because it would cost a lot of money and the economy is in poor shape right now. Also it is easier for the government to blame the teacher for poor performance in schools and fire the teachers than it is for them to put the monetary work into training high quality teachers and increase the beginning salary of teachers making the job better overall and the education system better overall. In the future is the problem is not solved education in America will continue to decrease and finding any teachers to fill the positions much less high quality teachers to fill the positions will become increasingly difficult. The American economy is already in a downward spiral and students getting an education is the most likely and plausible solution. If the government is unwilling to increase teacher salary that will directly increase teacher quality then America does not have a bright future. Americans should promote government policies that increase teacher salaries because an increase in teacher salaries will lead to an increase in higher quality teachers and better education overall.

Précis for first article

In his article, “Teacher Quality: What’s Wrong with U.S. Strategy?” author Marc Tucker claims that America does not have a good strategy for producing high quality teachers. He develops and supports this claim by breaking down the strategies used to produce good teachers and comparing American strategy to the strategy of other top teacher and student performing countries. His purpose is to inform Americans of the current education problems in order to promote reform and new policies regarding obtaining high quality teachers. The intended audience are politicians in charge of making the education laws as well as the America voters.