Sunday, November 13, 2011

Teachers Overpaid?

AEI has just published a study that asserts that teacher pay is 50% above the market rate.

To their credit, they do note that in certain areas (eg, math, chemistry) this level may be fair (or even below market).

I'm a little skeptical of the methodology, which uses "cognitive ability" as a scale for determining relative value.  The left is more commonly associated with metric-driven "fair wage" computations than the right.  If there's an algorithm for a fair wage, then the government can set and enforce wage levels.

The problem with determining a market wage for teachers is that there's not really a free market for their services in this country.  Most K-12 teachers are employed by the government, and graduate/post-graduate education is fundamentally distorted by government funding.

Regardless, it's an interesting read.

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