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creating massive needs for schools
and teachers.
In many cases teachers were
drafted foy the job without fully
adequate qual ifications.
If
not
academically limited, then they
were often unsuited in personality.
Meanwhile the hands of school
administrators were tied when it
carne to student discipline.
Many parents fail to realize sorne
of the most influential people in
children's Jives are teachers.
Most of our readers can probably
recall good and bad teachers they
had. There are those inspiring
teachers who make such an impact
they shall never be forgotten.
Perhaps it was a high school ath–
letic coach, the journalism teacher,
the history professor, the language
teacher who helped set a lifelong
course. 1 fondly remember my high
school Latín teacher. Most people
think Latín is the most boring sub–
ject possible. But this marvelous
teacher made language impor–
tant-interesting. 1 went on to
study German, Greek and a smat–
tering of other Janguages because
she made another language fun.
My high school football coaches
were instrumental in forming char–
acter, determination and stick-to–
itiveness.
One of the most fascinating
classroom teachers
1
ever met made
history come alive in my college
years. While
1
am by no means a
historian,
1
still frequently read
books on history.
Most of you can probably name
your favorite teachers. But sadly,
the list of such memorable teachers
is usually quite short.
Then, there are those teachers
who bored students to tears, who
never seemed to motívate, who
were hard to understand and
unmerciful in grading policies. We
can name them, too.
Between those extremes are a
majority of teachers. We neither
remember them for good or bad .
We don't remember them at all.
Creative, innovative, memorable
teachers are few and far between.
Why should that be?
There are those dedicated educa–
tors who teach for the joy of teach–
ing, who receive life's greatest plea–
sures from giving knowledge, pro–
viding direction for young people.
36
Emotionally, there are few greater
thrills than the experience of help–
ing a youngster learn.
But good teachers and adminis–
trators are hard to find for a variety
of reasons: 1) Salaries are not com–
petitive with other professions of
equal or less education and respon–
sibility. In sorne U .S. cities, for
instance, the trash collectors earn
more than the schoolteachers.
2) In many schools, discipline is
at an all-time low-violence at an
all-time high. Teachers do not feel
safe in the ..hallowed halls" of their
own schools. Administrators are
often criticized by naive parents for
being "too tough."
3) The teaching profession has
devised no adequate way to reward
the truly inspiring teachers. Infe–
rior teachers and good teachers are
generally compensated the same.
4) The teaching profession
is
not held in sufficient respect or
honor. Suppose a son or daughter
planned a career in teaching. A
typical attitude is illustrated by
University of Chicago professor
Anne Whe.eler as quoted in the
September 24, 1984, issue of
Newsweek
magazine, "Dad's a
lawyer and Mom's a doctor and
tbey botb ask, 'You want to be a
teacher?
What do you want to do
a thing like
that
for? ' "
What About Teacher Pay?
1'11 resort to a cliché: "You get
what you pay for." Traditionally,
teachers are among the lowest paid
of the educated professions. While
advances are being made in many
areas, faculty salaries lag behind
comparably educated people in
other fields.
The April 25, 1985, issue of
U.S.
News
&
Wor/d Report
featured an
article on the executive pay struc–
ture of America's largest corpora–
tions. Many upper-level executives
now earn in excess of
$1
million a
year.
1 couldn't help but wonder how
many of these highly capable, top–
Jevel men and women would have
entered the teaching profession or
would have become academic
administrators had they been able
to earn salaries higher than those
now paid in the teaching profes–
sion. And if most of them had
become teachers and educational
administrators, what kind of educa–
tional system would we have?
These corporate executives have
the ability to motívate employees,
convince the board of directors, sell
their products. Som·e have taken
companies on the verge of bank–
ruptcy and brought them back to
profitability. They are roen and
women of personality. Dedication.
Hard work. They make the right
decisions.
But it is not hard to understand
why someone potentially able to
earn a chief executive-level salary
would choose that over a virtually
subsistence-level teaching career.
Nor is it hard to understand why
someone already in teaching would
quit it in arder to work toward
executive responsibility.
It
is unfortunate our Western
society has put so much emphasis
on materialism, but that's the way
it is. Those dedicated teachers who
stayed on the job when -they could
have earned more in another field
deserve admiration.
But admiration and job satisfac–
tion are not the answer.
The teaching profession is also
on the bottom of the desired career
list of many young people today.
When children are asked what they
want to be when they grow up, they
answer almost every profession but
teacher.
The best of the college students
seldom enter teacher training pro–
grams- there is no bright econom–
ic future in it.
Who are the majority of students
choosing a teaching career? In a
July 1983 interview with
U.S.
News
&
World Report,
Secretary
of Education Terence Bell ob–
served, "Most of the students who
are studying to be teachers today
score in the bottom 25 percent of
the college entrance examinations.
That shows how far we've slipped
in making teaching attractive."
To be more specific, a National
Education Association report re–
vealed the average SAT score of
college-bound high school seniors
intending to become teachers was
only 812 (out of a possible 1600
points). By contrast students who
planned careers in engineering
averaged 987, those planning
careers in inathematics averaged
more than 1,000 and the national
The
PLAIN TRUTH