<HTML>The young people we would like to see as entering teaching fields and
the greatest potential for management are not those who would otherwise
become bookkeepers or programmers; they are the ones we would like to
divert from law school or investment banking. Thus, while the community
cannot hope to set the same salary levels as in the latter fields, other
satisfactions and supports must be made available. Wishing the
competitive problem away will not make it go away.
One starting point might be a more organized effort at creative and
compensatory use of the full year of a person's time. We pay lawyers a
lot but they might be compensated less per hour than teachers. On the
other hand, we employ them around the calendar, and perhaps around the
clock.
Why not have some better communally organized way of finding productive
educational (or even non-educational) employment for teachers during
summer months. I know that this flies in the face of the conventional
theory that teachers need that time to refresh, but refreshment doesn't
pay for their children's clothes and shoes.
Chag sameach.
Larry Kobrin</HTML>
