Blog Post #14

In Albert Klein's Teaching Can Be a Profession, he states that teaching should be professionalized and treated with more respect. I could not agree more with Klein, because I think teaching is a very underrated profession.

To professionalize teaching, the following problems must be addressed:
-Academic training for prospective teachers
-Approach to recruiting teachers
-How teachers are rewarded
-Job Security
-Seniority

The first problem, which Klein addresses, is the academic training for prospective teachers. In his article, Klein includes a recent report from the National Center on Teacher Quality. The report found that 23 states cannot claim a teaching education program that provides solid math preparation, and fewer than 20% of training programs can equip candidates in the basics of reading instruction. These statistics completely blew me away. Educators should be fully prepared and trained before they are allowed to educate young minds. Does this mean that teachers should know the answers to everything? No. Should teachers have better training to become more successful educators? Yes. So, how do we provide better academic training? The NCQT Teacher Prep Review suggests that we should discard our system of ratings and provide a system of rankings. This new system would raise the bar for academic standards among teachers and provide more, well-trained educators.

The second problem Klein addresses is the approach to teacher recruitment. Currently, anyone who receives a college degree in education is qualified to teach. In a Washington Post article, Sandra Feldman suggests that the U.S. should adopt the same approach as Singapore, Finland, and South Korea. In these three countries, the system is much more selective. Only the top third of each graduating class are recruited into the school system. Yes, it is a way to cut out "mediocre" teachers, but I think problems will arise with this system. I do believe those who work hard should be rewarded, and those who don't should not be given the same amount of credit. But, I don't necessarily think that there should be a cut off or percentage of students recruited. Whose right is it to determine how many people can be recruited? There might be a really bright student who barely missed the top third cut off range. I don't think it's a fair system. I agree that the process should be more selective, and the program should be held to a higher standard. I just think the selection process should be done differently. Rather than selecting a set percentage of students based on class rank, I think each student should be carefully evaluated.

The next few problems Klein addresses go hand in hand. To professionalize teaching, there must be a change in the way teachers are rewarded, seniority, and job security. Klein says that teachers are "interchangeable." Because of this, he explains that the only fair way to make distinctions is by basing everything off of seniority. This creates a problem, because time does not measure performance quality. For instance, a teacher who has been in the system for ten years is not necessarily a better teacher than someone who has only been in the system for five. It simply means they have more experience. Klein made a very true statement when he said, "Job security and seniority dictate the way our schools operate." Job security is a huge problem in the teaching profession. Teachers are laid off based on the amount of time he/she has been in the school system, rather than their performance level. At the same time, there's really no incentive to increase performance, which is a serious problem. Teachers are given the same pay, regardless of how great of a teacher he/she might be. This article discusses the teaching salary, and it also explains why teachers should be paid differently. All of these problems make it practically impossible to get rid of an incompetent teacher. Once you are tenured, your job is basically set in stone. Albert Shanker, one of the most influential teachers-union leaders, explains that a radical change has to take place in order for these problems to be solved.

I think Klein pointed out some great issues in his article. I completely agree that all of these problems need to be addressed in order to better the teaching profession. After reading this article, I see why so many people think becoming a teacher is so "easy." I don't think educators are given enough credit, and I am hopeful that this will change one day. Great teachers should receive the recognition they deserve.