Novices should be eased into tough jobs with plenty of expert guidance along the way. The honing of teaching skills gets short shrift in school systems. To make room for such activities, teachers would have to spend a bit less time in their classrooms. One issue on which teachers must yield is incompetence in their ranks. In that one area, private industry is superior to public schooling.
Businesses do a better job of weeding out poor performers.
The harsh truth is that the difficulty in firing bad teachers means that public school faculties probably feature a higher level of incompetence than do professional staffs at private companies. Thank goodness, some unions, the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association among them, have begun to see the light and have budged on this issue. Such movement could give teachers leverage in seeking the support they deserve. We as a society must take steps to enhance teacher satisfaction, which should reduce the worrisomely high rate of departures from the profession on the part of good teachers. To that end, giving teachers greater professional support is probably more important than hiking their pay.