The ship of education is already grinding on the iceberg of a shortage of well-qualified teachers in most areas of the country. Sometimes an important problem has a simple solution that can actually work. Our economic system has developed a successful mechanism for dealing with such a workforce shortage. Whether in hospitals, brokerage firms, industry, or pro basketball, salaries respond to market forces. If we recognize that teachers are important, we cannot simply fill those positions with warm bodies that can be trained.
Competent people have many career choices within our economy.
Professions compete for their potential workforce with a salary that compensates for the working conditions and qualifications required relative to other professions that are equally desirable. Below a threshold level, a profession does not get enough qualified people to survive. As a country we are clearly below the threshold for teachers. As long as sharp salary inequalities exist between what science and math teachers are paid and equivalently-educated professionals make in the private sector, the nation s schools will lack the best qualified teachers in science and mathematics. Of course, there are always a few people so dedicated to the goals of a profession that nothing else competes at any salary level.