[Vision2020] RE: Half of teachers quit

[joekc at adelphia.net]

Jerry,

This is an interesting idea and I would encourage the board to look into it further. But ultimately the real problem is that -- as others have noted -- (a) teaching is difficult and (b) teachers are not paid very well for their troubles.

As an undergraduate, I double-majored in math and philosophy. My initial hope was to become a grade school math teacher. In college, several folks pointed out that if you graduate with a math degree you could more easily work as, say, an actuary, which pays much better. Eventually, I got more interested in philosophy and there is no corresponding job in that field, so I went on to teach at the college level.

In a technologically advanced society like ours it is difficult to teach in a formal area like math and science -- areas that are in need of good teachers -- when there are another of jobs available that pay far more for your expertise. Plus these other jobs pay over a 12 month period, not a 9-10 month period. And they don't bring with them the kinds of troubles that Keely and Ed have noted.

We have the best military in the world. Why? Because each year we pour billions of dollars into the military budget without questioning whether or not we could do as well with half the resources. If we want to have the best education system in the world, the solution is easy: Offer competitive wages that encourage the most talented among us to consider becoming teachers.

Of course, that Utopian vision is unlikely to happen soon. In the mean time, interesting ideas like yours should be pursued!

--
Joe Campbell

---- Jerry Weitz <gweitz at moscow.com> wrote: 

=============
Here's a maybe a part of the solution to help teacher retention.   Dr.Linda 
Darling Hammond of Stanford University worked on helping retention rates 
for some time.   What worked was modeling educational practices that 
professions or even the trades (apprenticeships) have done.  That is having 
the  students of education become involved with students very early during 
their training under careful supervision by an experienced 
professional.  Think of it this way. When say a  surgeon is trained two 
things occur:  The didactic followed by practice (patient contact). If an 
ed. student is not inclined/interested/talented in the pursuit, then the 
student can simply change directions or pursue something else--- all very 
early, rather than find out during the first part of their careers.

MSD-UI College of Education talked about this concept when I was on the 
Board.  I thought that if this were to occur, the "magic"of a medical 
school format would benefit the recipients --the k-12 students and the 
education students. The master teachers would then become the chiefs or 
attending. Grand rounds for challenging students (treatment dilemmas), 
etc.  Of course, pay and working environment (where the professional is in 
control) would have to change.   jerry   


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