He could presumably still stay in his job if he was receiving raises based on excellence. Plus, you're speaking anecdotally about one person and extending his experience to everyone else.
My point has been, and remains, that basing teacher pay raises on seniority and nothing else drives many talented people away from teaching while retaining mediocre ones. Just because some talented people stay doesn't mean that driving away the other ones and is a good idea. Nor is creating a system with incentives for mediocre (and worse) people to stay.
I never said that merit raises are "standard" outside teaching. Please don't try to manipulate what I say. I said that they exist in places like the US military, public universities (e.g. the tenure system), and the FBI. These organizations all suffer under the same constraints that the schools do, but promotions are merit-based.
Again, I can't understand resistance to rewarding people for doing their jobs well. Why is this so horrible?
