<p>The pay is a part of the puzzle. It is also a reward for the heightened demands in terms of higher education. Finland did not increase the salaries on a whimsical basis; it created the incentives for the brightest minds to attend and graduate in specialized subjects that help education. </p>
<p>Our system of selection is at the antipode of Finland’s. We offer incentives to recruit from the bottom and keep the starting wages low to balance the cost of tenure and lower performance and attendance of the protected many. We reward endurance over talent and dedication. We believe in a system of generalists and pedagogy over content mastery.</p>
<p>And, fwiw, there is a lot more to basic math than rote memorization, which is a poor bandaid. The key is acquiring the mathematical REASONING and THINKING skills. If those skills were acquired through mere equations, the US would do superbly. Our students know how to memorize and play the rote games just as others do. Our failures come from memorizing without really understanding the material. And the basic reason is that we rely on instructors that are equally deficient in that ability. Hard to teach something you hardly get yourself.</p>