Arne Duncan "teachers in America often come from the bottom of the academic barrel"

[SheilaT]

34. Unfortunately, that's true. Which is not an excuse to trash teachers,

but needs to be acknowledged.

I graduated high school in 1965. I was the beneficiary of the era when women had very limited career choices, so many of the best and brightest became teachers. But by 1965 things were opening for women. And by that time it was already known that those who were going into teaching tended to have the very lowest SAT or ACT scores of all college students. Because by now, a lot of career possibilities had opened up, and unfortunately, it was those who were more or less left behind who went into teaching.

Please do not misunderstand me. I have enormous respect for teachers. I spent some years thinking that teachers were somewhat incompetent, and then I had kids. I honestly spent some time seriously thinking about home schooling * and then I understood how difficult a job it was to teach. But by then, the teaching profession had been seriously downgraded. Not because those who taught weren't competent, but because the profession itself had fallen into disrepute. Again, not because of those in the profession, but because of changes in our culture. We don't pay teachers enough, and so it's hard to attract good people into the profession. Teachers are treated with scorn, so who would stay in the job?

I wound up sending my two sons to an independent (meaning secular private) school. Even though we lived in an excellent public school district (Shawnee Mission, Kansas), the decision had to do with specific circumstances surrounding my oldest son. Meaning, he was being bullied and keeping him in the (otherwise excellent) public school was not a good idea. So we moved him to the private school. And even though the teachers there were paid less than they would have been in the public schools, they stayed because the benefitted from parents who were truly committed to their childrens' education, and administration that totally backed them.

I also want to say this: My children attended public schools in three different states, and I want to say that almost every teacher my kids had were genuinely dedicated. But the first time I attended a back to school night at the private school I was blown away at how much happier those teachers were. They knew that they were supported by parents and administration. More than one had been in the private school system, had tried the public schools for the money, and returned to the private school because of the support.

The main thing I took from that is that we need to pay teachers what they deserve. And we need to support academics. And we need to provide all of the services that all the students need. Period. No questions. The main advantage private schools have is that they don't have to educate all the various and many special needs students out there. We need to educate all kids.

The other thing was that academics came first in the private school. My kids were learning new material the day before the last day of class. In the (otherwise excellent) public schools, books were turned in and all learning stopped about a week before the end of school. No wonder private school kids have an advantage.

* Home schooling. I think that all parents should consider this, not because it's necessarily the right thing to do, but if you seriously think about home schooling your kid you will then ask the hard questions, think carefully about what you really want for your kid. It ultimately makes you a better parent within the conventional school system.