Those Who Love--and Want--to Teach

* I have been teaching high school in California for the past nine years. After reading your article (“Long Awaited Day Here,” Sept. 6) I felt I should mention that there are many reasons for entering this profession, and many different types who choose to.

Contrary to what you pointed out, we are not all retired individuals looking for a new career or people who could not find work in our first area of choice. Many of my fellow teachers entered this profession out a love for the subject matter, and a desire to pass on this love to our students. I must also mention that it is not only the first year teachers who are “brimming with bright-eyed enthusiasm.” I can point out many 25- to 30-year veterans on our campus who are admired for their enthusiasm as well as their experience.

Finally, we are not all “altruistic” martyrs who are willing to work for subsistence salaries. This profession pays very well now. In addition to the pay, we have pleasant people to work with, great hours, wonderful benefits, a feeling of making a difference, and terrific vacation time.

Yes, we have our problems in California’s public schools. There are many things that could be changed or improved. Even though we have these problems, I am confident that many teachers will agree with me when I say that we have a wonderful job. There are many jobs I could have chosen. There are many careers that I could move into today. We choose to be teachers.

DENNIS A. EQUITZ

Santa Ana

* The article on New Schoolteachers (Times, Sept. 6) conveniently excludes a whole group of the highest-qualified teachers, those who would exult with a starting salary of $26,000, those with decades of experience in practical, applied math and science, some with 10 to 20 years as part-time teachers, some who would out perform even Jaime Escalante himself--the older aerospace engineers.

No school district dares to utter the words, but age discrimination seems to be the only apparent reason for choosing younger teachers over the older set. Regardless of the popularity of elderly substitute teachers in the eyes of the students themselves, the political dealing of the front office carries the main weight in hiring practices.

This writer has over 15 years teaching, over 20 years of engineering, over 370 college credits, repeating the calculus series to ensure professionalism, a substitute math/physics teacher in nearly 20 school districts, yet still waiting for the first serious offer. In 1982, L.A. Unified begged this engineer to teach electronics in the district for $17,500 while volunteering at Narbonne High in the Adopt-A-School Program. Today, the phone is strangely quiet.

CHARLES A. SENDREY

Huntington Beach