Add to this problem the fact that pay increases are 100% tied to seniority and 0% tied to meritorious work, and the problem gets worse.
When I was in high school (80s; two schools) the math teachers all had degrees in mathematics, and many had graduate degrees in the subject. For them, calculus was trivial. We definitely respected those people. Val
Where we live, and all of IL I believe, teacher pay increases are tied to their gaining advanced degrees, in addition to seniority. The problem, in my opinion, is that they mostly all pursue graduate degrees and even PhDs in education or educational administration rather than the subject they teach.
I fail to understand how this helps improve student mastery of math, science or any other academic area.
