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Honor the Teaching Profession
North Miami Beach, Florida 1-10-2000 Aaron H. Schectman
THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on issues, ideas and reflections on the times. Published now and
then. Opinions pro or con are welcome.
NOT "THE TEACHER CRISIS" BUT FAILURE TO HONOR
TEACHERS
Bob Herbert in the Op Ed Page of the New York Times, titled his piece, "The
Teacher Crisis". What exactly is a "teacher crisis"? He should have dealt
with "Failing to Honor the Teacher". Times change and expecting large
numbers of "decent" teachers to emerge by using stopgap incentives makes no
sense.
In the past parents were totally supportive of their children's teachers.
Home reinforcement of what the school was trying to do was supplied through
vitally important communication between home and school. This has been
replaced by universal vilification of teachers by almost everyone.
Expecting any college graduate who is schooled in higher education
scholarship to be an effective classroom teacher has not worked. States
trying this approach, like New Jersey - the first to implement creating
non-education majors as teachers - have failed. Simply put, a teacher must
know his or her subject AND how to teach it.
Even this is not enough. Decent teachers are not enough. Filling
classrooms with the best possible candidates who are well schooled in who,
why, and how they are teaching is a sure way of predicting success and
economically spending tax dollars.
In the last 50 years or so, schools and the teachers have been
systematically bad-mouthed and branded as having failed the children and
failed the national mission to protect our democratic institutions.
Penurious teachers in inadequately equipped schools are fixtures in our
society.
Why should young people prepare themselves for a lifetime of disrespect and
inadequate compensation? The answer is not to treat education as teachers
in "crisis" but as an honored profession needed by a civilized country to
prepare its citizens for what the future has in store.
Carol's Evaluation: 10 out of 10.
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