‘Credential Teachers?’

As a potential nominee for becoming a member of the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards, I applaud your editorial “Credential Teachers?” (July 31). As a teacher for nearly 20 years, I personally face the future everyday in my high school classroom. Thus your statement that teachers hold one of the most important jobs in this country is not only indicative of your continued support for education, but also increases the value of what we teachers do for our society.

If the teaching profession is going to command the image and respect accorded other professions, we must have a certification program that not only tests for subject knowledge, but also for how effective we are in relating to students. I have seen teachers with a limited subject knowledge imbue within their students an intense desire for learning and understanding while, on the other hand, there are some teachers with a profound understanding for their subject who fail to impart that great knowledge upon their students. The trick is to find individuals who can do both effectively . . . especially for the future of our nation.

Last spring, Times’ Sports Section columnist Jim Murray wrote that no wonder, as a society, we find foreign goods and services better than those made in this nation when we allow our educational systems to disintegrate. At least the Carnegie Forum is taking steps to alleviate the severe future shortage of qualified teachers so that our nation will enter the next century prepared to meet those future scientific and technological challenges.

JOHN PAWSON

Huntington Beach