When I reflect on my time in the classroom, I don’t think about my paycheck, the staffing, or
the per‐pupil funding at my school, which seemed quite generous. Instead, I think about the
impediments that stood—and still stand—in the way of teachers being successful.
Teaching is the easiest job in the world to do poorly, but the hardest one to do well. And make
no mistake, the vast majority of our four million full‐time teachers deeply want to do it well. So
let me say at the outset that no one should begrudge paying hard‐working teachers more, but
we should be clear‐eyed about our reasons for doing so. We work in the service of children. If
our hope is that improving teacher pay will improve student outcomes, then we will likely be
disappointed. Higher pay does not make a hard job easier to perform. It lifts no burden off a
teacher’s shoulders, nor does it add hours to a teacher’s day.