Teaching aspires to become a profession, yet it faces two daunting obstacles. First, public school teachers cling to unprofessional salary schedules and terms of employment that make it impossible to pay them based on their performance and market demand. Second, the unions that bargain these terms are modeled not on professional associations, but…

For today's public school teachers, unlike most professionals, years employed rather than performance determines where they work, how much they are paid, and whether they can be fired. To achieve professionalism teachers will need to jettison the tactics of industrial-style unionism in favor of organizations more like the medieval guilds. (MLF)