Police and Teachers

An aspect of the cop's widely reported tirade against the skateboarder that I think went unnoticed was how the cop inquired if the kid treated teachers that way, too. It has long seemed to me both teachers and police are in very similar circumstances. Both are given superhuman status in lieu of compensation, both are obliged to work with woefully inadequate resources, both are obliged to subscribe to theories that make no sense, on pain of dismissal, both have their hands tied when discernment and creativity might be called for in the execution of their professional duties. Both are finding the quality of new recruits dropping fast.

The video showing the corrections officer dumping the paraplegic ends with cameo of another officer walking away and chuckling. My sense he was shaking his head in regret, and something he thinks is wrong, but not that he is going to do anything about. He retires in five years, why bother raising a beef? There is the bigger problem, nobody reported anything. We know about Abu Ghraib because the USA does have honest soldiers, who will not tolerate dishonor.

Like teachers, police are accorded superhuman status, when they are quite human. An impression is manufactured that they can solve all problems, make everything good. If this were true, both would be woefully undercompensated for what we are told they contribute. But since in fact they are neither able no permitted to perform as described, they are overpaid for actual results.

In both cases we could get better results for less money, if they operated in a free market. In such an alternative world, both cops and teachers would make more money while performing far more productively. It is a problem of government intervention in the markets.

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