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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Remain Faithful To Core Mission

How do you put a price tag on a teacher’s finest hours?

Exactly how many dollars and cents will compensate an excellent college professor for that instant when a new realm - whether math or music, or macroeconomics - suddenly yawns open in a student’s life? The moment an English professor detects a struggling writer’s authentic voice and nurtures it? The hour a religious studies instructor captivates an entire classroom and profoundly alters his students’ thinking?

In universities across the country, those priceless moments often are valued less than the knowledge - and grant money - generated by faculty research. A recent survey of Washington State University payroll records appears to show that the school’s top teachers are paid significantly less than its top researchers. On a nine-month contract basis, the teachers average $59,068, $27,712 less than the researchers’ average pay of $86,780.

Certainly, a research scientist, who often must be lured away from the more lucrative salaries of private industry, provides a valuable service to a university and the region it serves. Eastern Washington has benefited greatly from numerous WSU research studies, its businesses have profited and its students have gained opportunities to explore the cutting edge of knowledge in their fields.

But surely the gap between teacher and researcher salaries should be narrowed. The Kellogg Commission, a prestigious group charged with academic reform for the nation’s land grant institutions, recently released a report calling for improved teaching and a sharper focus on undergraduate education.

Parents of college-age children, presently reeling from tuition sticker shock, will demand a solid return for their dollars. They will be more likely to part with their life savings for schools that feature regular contact with bright, enthusiastic and compassionate teachers. Occasional glimpses of a top researcher, followed by long dry spells with graduate students, won’t be enough.

Perhaps consumers of education will turn to regional universities and private colleges, where the mission of teaching remains a high priority. Certainly, institutions such as Eastern Washington University could hone their niche by focusing on high-quality instruction.

But all public universities will need to think creatively about valuing and rewarding their best teachers.

A. Bartlett Giamatti, former president of Yale University, once said, “Teachers believe they have a gift for giving; it drives them with the same irrepressible drive that drives others to create a work of art or a market or a building.”

Let’s reward that gift. It’s a treasure that shines through the lives of students forever.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Jamie Tobias Neely/For the editorial board