On the merits...

...this idea sucks.

Seems one Ingrid Jacques, an editorial writer for The Detroit News, thinks that merit increases for teachers are just ducky.  As is often the case with vapid conservatives, this is an opinion voiced by one who has no personal stake in the matter, and even less experience in the real world.  She cites the usual twits--Michigan legislature (currently the laughing stock of the entire nation--vagina, vagina, vagina), the Mackinac Center for Public Policy (conservative think tank based on Fantasy Island for the wealthy in Michigan, notoriously mistaken on fucking everything), and Students First (private education organization most noted for cheating on test scores in D. C. to make themselves look better).

I've spent 30 years in the real world, working for real companies, and there once was a time when merit increases actually did exist.  It died off after Numbnuts Reagan's term, but merit pay raises in the corporate world (not including executives who never miss an opportunity to find a reason to give themselves a raise--I farted twice today!--despite their lack of success or profitiability) today have become codespeak for "NO RAISES."  Trust me, no matter how well you do in your job, no matter how much you contribute to the bottom line, if you're not an executive, they will find every reason possible to not give you a raise.

Trust me teachers, the same will eventually happen to you, especially since there are enough idiotic voters out there who absolutely think you're overpaid making $50,000 for teaching their increasingly moronic kids.  Avoid this deal at all costs!

Ms. Jacques, in a typically republican classless move, concludes what passes for thought in conservative circles by declaring that teachers not interested in merit pay should seek another line of work.

I'd suggest the same for Ms Jacques, considering her reasoning is extremely poor, her research is embarrassingly bad, and she's a miserable writer, but it's a conservative publication, and we all know that conservatives love to reward the incompetent as long as they're either rich or spout the party bullshit.

Peace,
emaycee