To Raise Teacher Standards, We Must 1st Test Society’s Attitudes
Political rhetoric demanding a “crackdown on incompetent teachers” and establishing tougher “accountability standards” is all the rage these days. The current trend in educational reform is taking a let’s-get-tough approach toward what many perceive to be incompetence on the part of local schools and teachers.
And I say, bring them on. Nothing like a top-notch criterion-based reference test and a board of bureaucrats to administer these standards to bolster the quality of education, especially at a time when districts nationwide are facing teacher shortages in the thousands.
Before political hopefuls and those who wish to usurp authority from locally elected school boards via broad-based initiatives start hammering away at the school system and the beleaguered classroom teacher, they ought to first identify the most pressing problem: teacher shortage.
In case anyone hasn’t noticed, people aren’t exactly banging down the door to be teachers. Why is that?
I remember that when I decided to pursue a teaching career, people wondered at my choice. “Are you sure you want to be a teacher?” they would ask incredulously, as if I were embarking on a missionary quest to some distant and dreary land. Over the years, I have continued to encounter this attitude.
In an attempt to flatter me, friends and relatives have remarked, “With your talents, you could be doing so many other things.” The notion that anyone with “real talent” (which my colleagues possess in abundance) should stay in teaching seems almost inconceivable in a society that continues to allow marketplace values to dictate social policies. Although elementary and secondary teachers have made substantial inroads in obtaining salary and benefit packages befitting their education and expertise, those who work with preschool children are lucky to earn a few cents above minimum wage.
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We invest little in those who care for young children. If we really value children so much, how is it that so few with means encourage their sons and daughters to become teachers? A university professor maybe, but an elementary or preschool teacher, never! Why is that? Can the bureaucrats and the politicians come up with a test to answer that question?
Try this little quiz for starters:
1. Parents paying for their child’s exorbitant Ivy League tuition hope that their son or daughter will eventually become an inner city teacher: (a) absolutely, (b) it’s possible or (c) you gotta be joking.
2. The person most deserving of respect and recognition is: (a) a former tobacco industry lawyer, (b) Ken Starr, (c) software giant Bill Gates or (d) your former first-grade teacher (who?).
3. The person kids most want to emulate is: (a) power hitter Mark McGwire, (b) rap artist-turned-movie-star Will Smith or (c) their teacher.
And finally . . .
4. The person you would most likely entrust your child’s care to would be: (a) a politician, (b) a government bureaucrat or (c) his or her classroom teacher.
If we truly want to raise the standard of education then we must show greater esteem to those who have dedicated their lives to the care and nurturing of children. Before we start issuing tests and creating cumbersome oversight committees, we need to evaluate our attitudes toward those who teach.
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Reams of forms and top-down edicts don’t improve education; face-to-face parent, teacher and pupil involvement does.
If you want to improve our schools, then reflect your values by giving of your time and money to strengthen them. Volunteer and make your presence known. Don’t let some unseen official, some stranger, do it for you.
