This is the Negation case that I wrote for the December Public Forum topic. Concerning teacher merit based pay: My partner Devin Stone and I remain the undefeated champions of PF.
My partner and I stand in Absolute Negation of this resolution: Resolved: That merit pay based on student achievement should be a significant component of K-12 teacher compensation in United States public schools. We the negation will argue the Theoretical Correctness and legitimacy of the resolution; the very theory and concept of teacher merit based pay is a terrible idea. My partner and I find 3 basic flaws in the concept of the merit based pay-transcended by the resolution. The three main points we will primarily focus on to elucidate our stance of ablolute negation are:
1. Student achievement is not reflective of Teachers ability.
2. It Encourages Cheating
3. It creates an unfair competition between teachers and schools
1. Student achievement is not reflective of Teachers ability.
There are several problems with basing how much a teacher should make based on student performance. The most important: there are too many other variables besides teacher effort that determine an individual's and a class' performance, like attitude, personality, health considerations, learning abilities, family stability, .Etc. Teachers only have so much control over how much and how fast a child can learn. Socrates once said, “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” Even if the teachers are willing to go the extra mile to fill the vessel, and kindle this flame, in the end it is the students who must put forth the effort to learn the concept, and thus igniting the flame inside them.
2. It Encourages Cheating
In a recent study, economist Steven D. Levitt proved that dozens of teachers in the Chicago School District who were involved in a merit pay program altered test scores to influence their salaries. Did the teachers cheat because they were bad people? Not likely, we the Negation believe that it was because the teachers were motivated by the monetary gain granted by the resolution and a merit based pay-based on said student achievement- and as it is seen here- student achievement is easy to manipulate and cheat- to the teachers advantage. You must realize, As long as there’s the temptation to alter student’s performance for an increase in pay, there will be teachers who will be willing to cheat and take advantage of the system, for money.
3. It creates an unfair competition between teachers and schools
Merit based pay-will create competition amongst teachers. Teachers will quarrel over who gets the “smart kids” and who teaches A.P. and Honors Classes, because it will mean an increased result of test scores, and thus granting the teacher of said A.P classes and Honors classes an instant pay raise. A school is a place where teachers work together to better the student, how will teachers work together if they are to preoccupied with earning more money? It will also create competition amongst schools where teachers would rather teach at school “X” than school “Y” because school “X” has better test scores, and thus more pay for the teacher. No teacher would want to teach at a low-income or high transient school. You see if a merit based pay is implemented it will not only cause teacher separation, but educational balkanization.
The very idea of teacher merit based pay is so fundamentally flawed, containing so many fallacies in logic and theory that it can’t possibly be considered as a legitimate alternative to our current education-pay system.
In conclusion, seeing the superfluous majority of fundamental flaws to Teacher merit-based pay all adding to its vast illegitimacy, n, Merit based pay for teachers Is an indubitably fallible concept; relying solely on the faith that it will someday work out for the better. Will it though? Will merit based pay-for teachers ever work for the betterment of education, and the students? We the negation according to the case presented submit that it will not. Please vote NEG!
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