[Hoot Gibson]

As your lawmakers the point of making us have a Masters degree.. I like your logic though, why require people to have a medical degree, why any degree really?

As far as performance, only until teachers can "fire"students, will that work. As in the private sector, you as a boss can fire those that do not meet standard and bring in those that would. I would ask the same principle to be applied to teachers, that is why performance based does not work in my field.

Finally, on the S.S. teachers would pay into such a program and many have, but the WEP/GPO knocks out teachers from the state of Kentucky and Railroad workers.

Teachers pay in the 16% for retirement, plus the regular taxes that everyone else pays.

People in retail sales can't fire their customer base any more than teachers can fire their students. That does not exempt sales people from being rewarded based on performance. Teachers' pay is not based on performance because they are a protected political class thanks to their unions and effective lobbying by the NEA and it's affiliated state tentacles.

Comparing the teaching profession to such professions as medicine is ridiculous.

How many years does it really take to learn to teach subjects that most Americans have learned to elementary and high school students? The private sector is full of outstanding teachers working in fields such as corporate trainers who have no formal training as teachers.

The best taught class that I have ever taken was a class presented by a young graduate from Iowa State. The class was Advanced Statistical Process Control. The instructor who taught the 8 hour a day, three week class had no teaching degree but he had deep knowledge of the topic and outstanding presentation skills.

In general, I am opposed to to professional licensing because their main purpose is to inflate the salaries of the members of the profession. I formerly practiced as a registered professional engineer in Kentucky and was a member of the Kentucky Society of Professional Engineers. Such organizations lobby on behalf of their membership while professing to do so for the good of the general public. It's the same m.o. that is used by all "professions."