Column of the Day: Nick Kristof

Kristof suggests paying great teachers what they deserve would "attract the kind of above-average teachers our above-average children deserve." You'll get no argument here. Why pay more? According to a Stanford University study, an excellent teacher (defined here) raises a student's lifetime earnings by $20,000.  

But this isn't a call for higher salaries across the board. Teacher pay would be determined by "performance, with rigorous evaluation." As long as the evaluation isn't solely based on standardized test scores, most teachers would welcome it. 

It wasn't too long ago, write Kristof, that teachers were paid nearly as much as  - gasp - lawyers:

In 1970, in New York City, a newly minted teacher at a public school earned about $2,000 less in salary than a starting lawyer at a prominent law firm. These days the lawyer takes home, including bonus, $115,000 more than the teacher.

Imagine: teachers making $100,000 a year because the public believes in the value of education and wants the best for their children.