Submitted by J.T. Giordano (not verified) on December 7, 2006 - 08:33.
The answer would be "all of the above", with emphasis on treating teachers as professionals instead of "labor" and letting us do our jobs without being undermined by union officials & micromanaged by bureaucrats who've never taught a day in their lives. More suggestions: institute more competitive & rigorous teacher training programs & entrance reqirements (the bar must be raised here), create a professional working environment that is worthy of both excellent teaching and respectful of the right of children to learn, smaller classes for sure (if class size doesn't matter, why do the rich send their kids to exclusive prep schools emphasizing small classes & individual attention, and why do the most elite colleges like West Point tout their classes being capped at 15 students?), and last but not least, eliminate the inane "staff developement" (a.k.a. "staff demoralization") days and pay us like professionals instead of babysitters. As a dual-licensed high school teacher with 11 years of experience in both public and private schools (the last 6 years of which have been with the NYC Dept. of Education), I can honestly say these things and also add that large bureacracies and unions are actually hindrances to real education and serve to demoralize teachers and students because their focus is not really on what is best for the students but rather on finances & protecting teachers' jobs at all costs. I resigned my tenured position last year after the mayor of New York City gutted the GED program I was teaching in and the Dept. of Education allowed a teacher with more seniority but less effectiveness to bump me from my position, forcing me to be reassigned to a school in another borough where I was being demanded to teach a subject I did not know and for which I was not licensed. The union tried to get me to keep the position just to protect my job and seniority while showing no concern for the children who would have been deprived of a competent teacher in that subject. Situations like mine happen every day of the week to countless teachers in big systems like New York City, but the problem is that most teachers don't complain and just accept being forced to teach out of license, despite the stress and demoralization this causes -- or they leave like I did. I won't say that only the best of us leave, but I will say that many good teachers leave the public schools in big cities like New York to work in either wealthier (better-paying) suburban schools or private schools because we want to be able to do our jobs with integrity, pride, effectiveness, and appreciation. Look at the best corporations and see what they do to attract and retain the best people: first and foremost, they regard their employees as "human capital" instead of "labor"; they seek to utilize and develop their strengths; they provide meaningful mentoring and professional growth experiences; they provide excellent incentives, rewards, & bonuses; and last but not least, they pay their valued employees the salaries they deserve in order to retain them. As long as politicians & bureaucrats keep talking about attracting "better teachers" to the profession and making their training & jobs more demanding while not being willing to treat them & pay them like the professionals they are, they will keep losing the good teachers and only retaining the mediocre. The most tragic result of this is that the most needy children will be deprived of the best education all children deserve, but the non-educators who make the policies and run the school systems don't really care. I find it sadly ironic that most of the talking heads who think they know how to "fix" education and are always the first to blame teachers for all the failures of the schools have never taught a day in their lives. Moreover, the politicians and media always conveniently leave one group out when trying to come up with solutions: those of us in the actual "trenches" doing the job every day -- the teachers! The last point I'd like to make is this: while teachers are often lumped together with other "city workers", we are the only subgroup within that group who funds their own training, is required to continue to do so, and also give of our lives insofar as we build the future workforce and leadership of our nation. And if you teach in the inner city as I have, you are also literally risking your life in some instances as well. So taking all things into consideration, it shouldn't surprise anyone that there remains a problem with attracting and retaining excellent teachers when you can make a lot more money with a lot less hassle and a lot more respect in jobs that require much less education, time, and emotional demands. Until policy makers wake up to this reality, there will always be a shortage of great teachers.
The answer would be "all of
Submitted by J.T. Giordano (not verified) on December 7, 2006 - 08:33.
The answer would be "all of the above", with emphasis on treating teachers as professionals instead of "labor" and letting us do our jobs without being undermined by union officials & micromanaged by bureaucrats who've never taught a day in their lives. More suggestions: institute more competitive & rigorous teacher training programs & entrance reqirements (the bar must be raised here), create a professional working environment that is worthy of both excellent teaching and respectful of the right of children to learn, smaller classes for sure (if class size doesn't matter, why do the rich send their kids to exclusive prep schools emphasizing small classes & individual attention, and why do the most elite colleges like West Point tout their classes being capped at 15 students?), and last but not least, eliminate the inane "staff developement" (a.k.a. "staff demoralization") days and pay us like professionals instead of babysitters. As a dual-licensed high school teacher with 11 years of experience in both public and private schools (the last 6 years of which have been with the NYC Dept. of Education), I can honestly say these things and also add that large bureacracies and unions are actually hindrances to real education and serve to demoralize teachers and students because their focus is not really on what is best for the students but rather on finances & protecting teachers' jobs at all costs. I resigned my tenured position last year after the mayor of New York City gutted the GED program I was teaching in and the Dept. of Education allowed a teacher with more seniority but less effectiveness to bump me from my position, forcing me to be reassigned to a school in another borough where I was being demanded to teach a subject I did not know and for which I was not licensed. The union tried to get me to keep the position just to protect my job and seniority while showing no concern for the children who would have been deprived of a competent teacher in that subject. Situations like mine happen every day of the week to countless teachers in big systems like New York City, but the problem is that most teachers don't complain and just accept being forced to teach out of license, despite the stress and demoralization this causes -- or they leave like I did. I won't say that only the best of us leave, but I will say that many good teachers leave the public schools in big cities like New York to work in either wealthier (better-paying) suburban schools or private schools because we want to be able to do our jobs with integrity, pride, effectiveness, and appreciation. Look at the best corporations and see what they do to attract and retain the best people: first and foremost, they regard their employees as "human capital" instead of "labor"; they seek to utilize and develop their strengths; they provide meaningful mentoring and professional growth experiences; they provide excellent incentives, rewards, & bonuses; and last but not least, they pay their valued employees the salaries they deserve in order to retain them. As long as politicians & bureaucrats keep talking about attracting "better teachers" to the profession and making their training & jobs more demanding while not being willing to treat them & pay them like the professionals they are, they will keep losing the good teachers and only retaining the mediocre. The most tragic result of this is that the most needy children will be deprived of the best education all children deserve, but the non-educators who make the policies and run the school systems don't really care. I find it sadly ironic that most of the talking heads who think they know how to "fix" education and are always the first to blame teachers for all the failures of the schools have never taught a day in their lives. Moreover, the politicians and media always conveniently leave one group out when trying to come up with solutions: those of us in the actual "trenches" doing the job every day -- the teachers! The last point I'd like to make is this: while teachers are often lumped together with other "city workers", we are the only subgroup within that group who funds their own training, is required to continue to do so, and also give of our lives insofar as we build the future workforce and leadership of our nation. And if you teach in the inner city as I have, you are also literally risking your life in some instances as well. So taking all things into consideration, it shouldn't surprise anyone that there remains a problem with attracting and retaining excellent teachers when you can make a lot more money with a lot less hassle and a lot more respect in jobs that require much less education, time, and emotional demands. Until policy makers wake up to this reality, there will always be a shortage of great teachers.