Blog Post #14

Teacher

In the article written by Joel Klein, he addresses the main part of education that if he would change if he could "wave a wand" to change. He points out that while this is a difficult question, he does have many things that should be changed. Firstly he points out the fact that teaching is not respected on the same level as being a lawyer or doctor in the professional world.

Some of the problems are that teachers need better training or education to be a teacher to the next generation. Klein addresses the problems by saying that teachers need to be better trained academically, school should only hire a top percentage of the graduates, teachers should have a national teacher examination, internship should be supervised from one to three years, and a merit based tier system should be evoked.

As a current student in Elementary education I believe that the level of training is not growing at the same pace as the level of work for the students. Joel Klein addresses this point by stating that almost anyone with a degree in education is allowed to teacher. With a better education of the teachers, the students would be better off all around because of the versatility of the teacher with better education versus the teacher with the lesser education that did not put as much effort into their own education. How can you expect a teacher who did not love to learn to want to teach students that may not have the drive to learn?

The selection process of teachers at a school should be based on the very best of the group. If a teacher applies and has a masters in education, but only made a 3.0 in both their masters and bachelors and had very little extra curricular activities such as volunteer work or tutoring, and a teacher that has a bachelors in education with a 4.0 and a great deal of the extra curricular activities. I feel that the second teacher should be the better choice because they put forth the effort, while it seems as if the first teacher just made it through.

The national teacher examination is a great way for the teachers to show schools who would be the best for the position. As a lawyer or doctor, you have to participate in one of these exams, that Albert Shanker proposed. Shanker also has another idea on a supervised internship that Klein explains. This internship lasts from one to three years and would help to narrow down the prospects of teachers.

A merit based tier system, instead of seniority or tenure, would be available for teachers to prove themselves by actually participating instead of just waiting out their time to avoid being fired. This would also help prevent teachers from using tenure as a way to keep their job when they are not the best fit for the students. 

After reading what Joel Klein has to say about means of improving the world of education and teaching, I truly agree completely. If schools and colleges were able to invoke the changes that he explains then education would grow to the level of being a doctor or lawyer. As many people fail to believe, education is not always an easy career. Teacher's are the ones that teach lawyers and doctors. Without teachers, how would people prevail to those professions?