Teachers deserve compensation for letters of rec

Aiding college-bound seniors with their application process is not part of a teacher’s job description; their pay does not include the time and effort they put into writing these important letters. Teachers should be compensated for the time they spend writing letters of recommendation for their students. 

According to the article “Berkeley teachers will get pay or time off for writing rec letters” by Ally Markovich, in Berkeley High’s system teachers get one day off for every 10 recommendation letters that they write, or get compensated for that time; In Berkeley, each recommendation letter is equivalent to 45 minutes of work, the article stated.

The district pays teachers for the time they spend working outside of the classroom. For example, teachers earn money for coaching school teams and chaperoning school events, as they rightfully should. Why then, do we not offer the same rewards when teachers help us get into college? Getting accepted into a college is not an easy task, and these letters can significantly impact whether we get accepted or rejected by a college we wish to attend. A thoughtful, personalized letter can be vital to a student’s college aspirations, yet the compensation we show teachers for writing them does not reflect that.

There may be ethical concerns that might arise from paying teachers to write these letters. It might lead to teachers prioritizing writing many recommendation letters rather than writing good letters, or writing a letter of recommendation for a student who might not deserve one. If a teacher accepts the task of writing a recommendation letter, knowing that they will not put the appropriate commitment into it, they might as well not write it. Tying these letters to a teacher’s formal job description and paying teachers for writing them, would make them more responsible for them.

Carelessness in such a vital task not only harms a student’s prospects but damages the reputation of MHS as a whole. Mediocre letters of recommendation will hinder our students’ chances to go to a prestigious school and will, in turn, paint our school as one that does not properly prepare students for successful futures. 

Writing these letters is an investment of time and resources, two things that are valuable to teachers. Like in any other occupation, if you work overtime, you get paid a bonus. We must stop thinking of recommendation letters as a favor and, instead, view them as a teacher’s commitment to education and our students as promised by our school.