It’s been a busy week. My steroids are gone. And, from the sound on the other end of the couch, I’ve got a massive crappy diaper in my near future.

I have lived in Georgia for ten years. Before I began staying home with my children I was a teacher within the Georgia public school system. I worked with the kids during the day and spent most evenings and vacations planning, grading, and preparing lessons that would meet the expectations of the school, the county, and the state. For the few years I was teaching I was spending even more time pursing a higher degree, not only for the pay raise I knew it would bring, but also so I could say with confidence that I was good at my job. I worked hard. I worked very hard.

I recently read that our state’s governor is hoping to bring about legislation that would require teachers to be paid based on student performance and not on their education and experience.

Then I attempted to keep myself from gagging.

The idea behind this legislation is that better performance deserves better pay. The teachers with students that perform well on standardized tests would be considered better at their jobs and thus receive better pay.

For me this isn’t a discussion about teacher pay or the lack thereof. For me this is a discussion about essentially putting teachers on commission. Their pay would be based on the performance of the students they teach – just like the car salesman’s pay is based on how many cars he sells. What bothers me about the entire situation is that there are too many factors that are outside a teacher’s control.

Many folks out there already agree that schools have become less about learning and more about passing yet another test. Teachers are already spending so much of their time preparing students to take one standardized test or another. But, when does the accountability of the teacher stop and the accountability of the student begin?

A teacher can prepare the lessons, do his or her best to translate those lesson to every students and every possible learning style. They can assign homework, practice questions, hold reviews, and create as many study resources as possible, but at some point the student has to make the effort. They have to study. They have to pay attention. They have to take ownership of their own learning. And, sadly, many students don’t do any of that. Now, because of their lack of care or appreciation of learning and school the teachers will be penalized – by cutting or limiting their pay, their livelihood.

I’m sure there is some logic here that vows to help weed out those teachers that aren’t doing their jobs – limit the pay of those that don’t have a student’s best interest in mind. But, I see this being yet another ‘solution’ that will only cause more problems in the long run.