Remember America's "good old days" when female teachers couldn't get married or pregnant and teachers of both genders couldn't drink alcohol or dance in public?

And when teachers were expected to take vows of poverty, clean the schools, stoke the furnaces, drive the buses and fix the cafeteria lunches?

Times have changed, of course. Teachers now are treated as professionals--not slaves--and paid living salaries in most communities (but not nearly as much as educators in Japan and Germany, America's major economic rivals).

Well, the "good old days" may be returning to Oregon, where voters are considering an initiative ballot measure requiring teacher pay to be based solely on the results of student-achievement tests.

Forget tenure, administrative evaluations, academic degrees, professional improvements, continuing education. Teachers in public schools would receive salary raises only if their students demonstrated progress in standardized testing.

Nevermind the fact that students learn at different rates and come from families offering varying degrees of support, involvement and enrichment. Or that achievement tests can't be designed for students in drama, music, art, physical education and dozens of other required and elective courses.

If the opinion polls are correct, Oregon voters will shoot themselves and their public schools in the foot on Nov. 7.(Editor's Note: Oregonians overwhelmingly rejected the initiative.)(29 OCTOBER 2000)

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