Blog Assignment #14

Some of the problems that are addressed in Joel Kline's USA Today article are:

-Academic training for teachers is not strenuous enough
-We don't recruit the proper people to be teachers
-Teachers are rewarded based on seniority and not merit

I very much agree with the first problem listed. Granted I only have my short few semesters to base my opinions on, but I do not see the process of becoming a teacher as one that requires a great deal of effort. I recently took the AECTP and was shocked at how elementary it was. It seemed to be set at grade school level, specifically in the reading section. I would hope that we would want our teachers to be more competent than a grade school standard. I am also not a believer that a "C" should be good enough to pass academic classes in higher education. A higher education degree is supposed to be an endorsement of some type of subject matter expertise in one's field. I don't feel like only retaining 70% of the knowledge is a high enough standard for college students. This is in reference to all college level education, not just the teaching field. I'm not saying everyone must have a 4.0 to receive their degree, but I do think a 3.0 should be the minimum to continue in higher education learning. If one cannot retain and present at least 80% of the knowledge they have learned, then I don't think they have demonstrated an appropriate level of expertise in their field. I wouldn't allow a mechanic to only fix 70% of my car's problems and I wouldn't allow an engineer to only meet 70% of building code. If that is the case, why would I be okay with the person who is responsible for teaching my children to only have achieved 70% of their expertise before imparting it?

The second problem mentioned of recruiting the proper people is something I agree with as well. The article says that "we've let anyone with a college degree become a teacher." I think it's very true that we don't exactly pick only the highest hanging fruit. The teaching profession lacks a lot of respect in the national perspective. I think the lack of top quality recruiting is a by-product of this. We, as a society, have a hard time telling each other that we can't do what we want to do. The MCATs and LSATs make this easier for the medical and law fields, but the rest of the nation has issues telling people that they shouldn't go into profession x,y, or z. Why is that? We don't do this with the arts or athletics. Simon Cowell has made millions of dollars telling people they aren't good enough to be professional recording artists. If I was to paint a picture and take it to any art dealer, they would tell me to get lost and seek another profession. I probably couldn't get cast in a Broadway show and I would get laughed out of an NFL tryout before the first whistle blew. Yet, if one walked into a school which had positions open, with a degree and resume in hand, one could most likely get a job. Again, this isn't an issue which is exclusive to only the education field. If we demanded our educators be some of the brightest our universities had to offer, it would pay dividends in the future generations.

I cannot speak to the third problem of teachers being rewarded based on seniority and not merit, as I have not been employed as a teacher yet. I do, however, have 10 years of experience in the work force and have seen multiple systems of rewarding behavior on the job. If it is only seniority that is rewarded, then one is only incentivized to do enough work to not get fired. Unless it is in one's personal nature to achieve more than the standard, employees won't produce results that are higher than what is required. If one is rewarded based on the quality of work, then there will be a constant competition to achieve the rewards. The quality of work will skyrocket.

I think the article raised some fantastic points about the problems in the education field. The solutions presented seemed to all lean toward improving the quality of the educator. While this seems obvious, it is actually a very good plan. If we can overhaul the process by which we choose and train educators, then the field as a whole will improve. If we can improve our field, then the future generations of students will benefit greatly.