Lately, it seems every time you pick up a newspaper it contains a story on the inadequacy of our nation’s educational system. Society is forever blaming its woes, from not being able to multiply to not being able to balance a checkbook, on a bad teacher. We all, at sometime in our education, have had to sit through the boredom and uncertainty of teachers like Christian Zowodniak’s freshman English teacher, Jeff. Teachers like Jeff made it appear that our teaching universities are turning out unqualified teachers, but this is not the case. Mediocre teachers get into the education profession for all the wrong reasons: from having summers off, to having good health insurance coverage, to having good work hours. Hopefully, these teachers quickly "burn-out" and seek employment in other professions. Unfortunately, many of them stay and become passive, unconcerned teachers, much like Zowodniak’s Jeff.
Surely, we have encountered more good teachers than bad ones in our years of education. Yet, we are quick to point out the flaws of our education system and to complain about poor teachers. But seldom do we praise our greatest asset, our excellent teachers. I would like to tell you about an excellent teacher, Mrs. Joan Beers . Mrs. Beers, my senior English teacher, loves teaching. Her love for her profession is reflected in her method of teaching her students, in her method of addressing her students’ different learning styles, and in her method of assessing her students.
Like Jeff, many of my high school teachers used a passive approach to teaching. The bell rang, and the teacher stood behind a podium with a notebook bulging with lecture notes. Facing her was a roomful of eager students, with notebooks opened and pens poised. Our learning consisted of a fifty-five minute lecture on grammar, during which the teacher verbally delivered reams of facts and examples, and we busily recorded her every word. We learned these bits of information and recited them word for word at exam time. The passive teacher graded us only on our ability to recall at exam time. Mrs. Beers, on the other hand, used a more active, student-centered approach to her teaching. She began class with a five minute discussion on prepositions. Then, she divided the class into small groups of three to four students and handed each student a current newspaper.
166-173). Linda Darling-Hammond (2000) discusses how teacher education has changed and how it has affected our education system (p. 166). The author also notes how even the most intelligent people found it hard to prosper in the field without the right skills and preparation (Darling-Hammond, 2000, p. 166-173). In the article, she presents how post baccalaureate programs are carefully structured, versus alternative routes which can be no more than backup employment options. Darling-Hammond (2000) also addresses how it becomes difficult for aspiring teachers to learn both subject matter and pedagogy (p.
It is a well-known fact that students entering higher education increasingly lack the academic skills necessary to succeed in their collegiate endeavors. It goes without saying that this is largely due to the widespread substandard education provided by legions of mediocre teachers—teachers who deliver shoddy instruction due to their own innately inferior academic abilities. At least, these facts are what Notre Dame Professor of Philosophy Gary Gutting would have readers of The Chronicle of Higher Education believe in his article “Why College Is Not a Commodity.” Although he makes many points that, if true, would be damning of the elementary and secondary teaching professions, Gutting stops short of proving his arguments logically or empirically. He claims today’s budding K-12 teachers often come from the bottom of the heap academically, directly leading to poor teaching—yet he provides no research to back up this connection. Furthermore, Gutting attempts to provide a solution to this so-called travesty by recommending that teaching be “professionalized,” ignoring the already-present professional practices and standards present. Gutting’s critiques, though thought-provoking, ultimately are logically and statistically unsatisfying in both their explanations of the state of teacher qualifications and in their calls to action.
"Issue Brief." Teacher Attrition: A Costly Loss to the Nation and to the States (2005): 6. Web. 27 Sep 2009. .
Lacks, C. (1997). The teacher's nightmare: Getting fired for good teaching. English Journal, 86 (2), 29-32.
Across America, young people are being short changed due to a broken education system. Bliss is just one example of the shared frustration felt by students. In an interview, Jeff said one of his key points is the fact that it's not just about his education, it's about our education. "If we embrace this, I feel as if we can make a serious change and a positive change. But if we just want to ignore and push this to the side then I expect to see the same problems again and again." Though he was not punished for his actions by the district, Bliss reveals that after dropping out of school and returning the next year, he takes his education very seriously and expects his teachers to do the same (Collins). “You got to take this job serious, this is the future of this nation… this is my country’s future and my education,” said Jeff. A video of the outburst, taken by another student, has since gone viral on various social media outlets causing a buzz throughout the educational system. Bliss expressed his own opinion about the changes he wants to see implemented by saying, “I want to see a teacher stand up and interact with the students, get involved, discuss, talk, question and dig deep into the subject,” in the interview (Klein).
Teacher tenure creates complacency among teachers who do not fear losing their jobs. Once a teacher becomes certified after a certain amount of years in a school system, he or she becomes satisfied with the way they teach and act towards their students. Nixon, Packard, and Douvanis stated that some teachers have more of the ability to help care for and see students’ succeed than others might, “as some do not have any incentives to perform better than others” (Philips 2). This point also relates to the fact that “when teachers become tenured most try to only get by with the bare minimum of teaching and do not prepare in depth lessons because they believe tenure gives them a heightened sense of job security” (Philips). Furthermore, allowing teachers to bec...
As Malcolm Gladwell expresses, America must be critical and selective when hiring teachers. By hiring a seemingly good candidate, it is inconclusive if he or she will fit the standards of an adequate teacher. In Gladwell’s article, “Most Likely To Succeed,” he reiterates which traits and actions an advanced teacher should employ, compared to a below average teacher. A candidate may fit the job requirements, but may lack an important skill once they are hired, such as using effective communication skills to teach students in a positive manner. Even if a student is bright enough to do well in a class, they may not reach their full potential due to being taught by a poor teacher. Evidently, this is an inconvenience to students and creates an
“Fairfax County Virginia had to beg two retired teachers to come back.” Baltimore had 700 new teachers but still needed 100 more. “NYC had such a hard time finding math and science teachers that it recruited 23 of them from Austria.” (Pipho, page 181) “We're robbing our children of the very people who can help ensure they enter adulthood well prepared for college and the workplace.” (Kennedy, paragraph 4) 43% of Germany’s teachers are aging or could retire.
According to Dana Goldstein, author of The Teacher Wars, “50 percent of all beginner teachers choose to leave the profession in the first five years” (7). This is either due
In today’s America, the educational system has been blaming teachers for the failure of students. This pressure put on teachers causes a lot of unneeded stress and can even be demoralizing. Instructors are always trying to put the student’s
According to the study, “teacher quality is the single most important factor determining students’ achievement in school” (The Blame Game). In order to boost student achievement, we need teachers that are qualified, passionate, captivating, and positive. Unfortunately, there are many bad teachers within the public education system and due to tenure and seniority, it is very difficult to fire these teachers. Instead of getting fired, bad teachers are often reassigned to schools in more troubled, lower-income areas because people assume that the people in these schools do not care about the quality of teachers. This raises the question, “Why should there be a lower standard for teachers in low-income
Around the nation, hundreds of schools are facing the common major issue of teacher shortages. The alarmingly low amount of teachers in the U.S. creates the debate of whether or not students are receiving a quality education. “‘It’s a crisis’ says Bill McDiarmed, dean of the University of North Carolina School of Education. ‘I don’t know who will be teaching kids in the future’” (DeNisco 1). Oklahoma has a plethora of teacher shortage areas, which could be part of the reason why Oklahoma is ranked 48th in National Education (Robson 1). Shortage areas in the sooner state range a large variety of subjects for the 2015-16 school year alone, including, but not limited to: art, elementary education, foreign language, math, music, physical education/health, science, social studies, and special education (Clement 125). Why do educators participate in early termination? How does the lack of teachers affect education quality? What is Oklahoma doing to recruit and replace empty positions? If Oklahoma does not fix its teacher shortage soon, education in the sooner state will continue to spiral downward into failure. This analysis of Oklahoma teacher shortages will evaluate the reasons teachers quit, the effect of their absence, and the various ways their positions are attempted to be filled.
During the past fifteen years the attrition rate has grown to over 50% with the turnover rate at almost 17% per year nationally (Teaching and America’s Future, 2007). Finding teachers isn’t always the problem, especially in today’s economy with high quality teachers easier to find than in years past. The problem isn’t finding the teachers, but rather keeping them in our schools. It is especially difficult to keep them in schools that are high-poverty, high-minority, and low-performing schools. We can’t close the student achievement gap due to the inability to close the teacher quality gap (2007).
The study “Student Teaching in the United States” published by the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ). This group seeks to restructure many of the current policies and practices of the education system. They have a wide range of political diversity on their board that share the c...
The one belief I had about teaching that has changed since I began this unit, is that all teachers, more or less, taught in the same way. Perhaps this is a belief that I had formed from my own time at school, where all my teachers taught in the same way; some were more or less effective, but I wasn’t aware of them using theories or methods as such, more that they were or weren’t kind people. This belief has changed and it has really opened my ideas to the many creative models, and instructional methods a teacher can use.