Teachers & The Free Market

Filed under: Teachers | By DrHGuy | July 9, 2006 at 8:32 am

Teachers Pay Teachers,¹ describes itself as a “marketplace … where smart educators can buy and sell original course materials.”²

This is an interesting notion that raises some provocative ideas.

Potential Problems

While I get off on the teachers-helping teachers (or do I have it reversed?) thing, I am on proudly on record as opposing teachers spending personal funds on materials school systems should be buying (see previous post, Teacher Appreciation #2: A Gift For Teacher). On the other hand, it does seem more legitimate for a teacher to buy something (for example, a lesson plan) that improves his or her professional skills and effectiveness, especially if it saves the purchasing teacher some time and effort, than for that teacher to purchase items (for example, books or art equipment) that will be used by students.

In an analogous situation, physicians routinely pay out of pocket for ongoing medical education or to learn a new surgical technique, but few write personal checks to buy bandages or medications for their patients (unless they plan to resell them). I don’t know of any docs who pop for a new MRI machine and don’t charge for its use.

Beyond my obsession with the mortal sin of teachers purchasing school materials, my concerns about the Teachers Pay Teachers concept center on the inevitability of bureaucratic hassles. From my buddies working in academic medicine, I’ve become aware of the not trivial issue of ownership of the intellectual work, scientific discoveries, inventions, and research produced by a an individual who is salaried by an academic institution, The institution’s rules and the legal statutes governing this question are complex, ambiguous, and, not infrequently, in conflict.

To the company’s credit, Teachers Pay Teachers does not avoid the issue but addresses it at length, albeit not conclusively, on the web site. Presently, prices are so low³ that a major contretemps over ownership seems improbable. Should prices increase to more significant levels, however, it seems likely that such clashes could occur. (As I think about it, I have been involved with a school district or two that seemed petty enough that they might come after a teacher over $5.)

Potential Benefits

I do think any process or mechanism that renders any profession (psychiatry springs immediately to mind) less provincial is a good thing, so to the extent that this marketplace can be viewed as a nations-wide⁴ exchange seems a good idea.

Most significantly, I’m enough of a free market supporter to believe that, eventually, class will tell and the best merchandise will bring the best price. A teacher who produces superior teaching plans will be paid more for that work. And, a school administrator or a school board member could do worse than using the going prices of competing Russian Revolution Units as one guide to determining the highest quality teaching practices.

Here’s An Idea

Teachers Pay Teachers and the idea behind it provide a rare opportunity for non-teaching stakeholders in education, including school boards, school administrators, teachers unions, legislators, parent organizations, and others, to directly support and make a concrete declaration of respect for teachers – without manipulating budgets, raising taxes, increasing dues, or changing classroom sizes.

This goal could be accomplished by these groups mutually and unambiguously stipulating that teachers are independent professionals as well as school employees and that, as such, they should not only have full rights to any monies earned through sales of their independent professional work, including but not limited to marketplaces such as Teachers Pay Teachers, but should be encouraged and rewarded for doing so.

Teachers would have an incentive to create and produce high quality products without costing the schools a penny (although I think schools would be foolish not to buy such products), the schools employing the teachers producing the best materials would not only benefit from using those materials⁵ but would also gain some prestige and bragging points for employing such stars in their faculty, teachers who bought the goods would gain the advantage of improving their lessons and would save time as well, teachers who sold these goods would make a buck and have some indication of their own value that is independent of a school’s evaluation, and the students get a better education.

That sounds like a good deal to me.

Footnotes

I have no fiscal relationship to Teachers Pay Teachers, I know nothing of the organization beyond what I read in their web site and in a couple of news stories, I have no idea if this business is legit, a scam, the work of the Anti-Christ, or the greatest thing since sliced bread. I’m just taken with the idea of teachers selling their professional products independently of the schools that employ them. ~back~
It seems to me that these folks are overlooking a significant market segment – the not so smart teachers – whom, one assumes could benefit most from purchasing superior material. ~back~
An example, which I chose at random but which appears representative, is an impressive-looking unit dealing with the Russian Revolution, described as “Entire unit on the causes and course of the Russian Revolution. Packet includes 5 color flowcharts (GIF), 5 powerpoints (sic) where (sic) the flowcharts & lecture notes unfold box by box, student text and extensive teacher’s notes (MS Word). A new, more viewer-friendly flowchart is also included in each Powerpoint that hyperlinks to other flowcharts in that unit,” is offered for $5. ~back~
Currently, Teachers Pay Teachers operates in the United States, Canada, and Australia ~back~
In my scheme, teachers would not charge the schools employing them for the materials they developed. ~back~