Science Teachers’ Pay Doesn’t Add Up

It's Time to Get Serious About Competitive Compensation

By Gerald F. Wheeler

Forty-five years ago this past fall—not too long after the Soviets had launched Sputnik—I started teaching high school chemistry and physics in Connecticut. In the early 1960s, the nation was galvanized by the threat of Soviet domination in science. Congress had passed the $1 billion National Defense Education Act, and a whole lot of science and math teachers were in classrooms nationwide.

Ah, the good old days!

Notwithstanding all the recent national reports on science and math education, many groups, including the National Science Teachers Association , are eagerly hoping for another nationwide kick-in-the-pants moment similar to Sputnik that would focus the country’s...