Teacher Training and the Improvemen...

Teacher Training and the Improvement of Public Education

one time again, as seems to be the case each dozen years or so, the attention of the nation has follow to rest upon the education of its youth, the quality of that education, and its impact on the future of the geographical division Education, instead of war, economics, or political/ social upheaval, is today's "hot item.' sad ribbon panels have reported; the mass media have investigated, analyzed, and exposed; editorials have been written; conventions have convened; politicians have exploited the issue; and blame has been placed upon virtually everyone at virtually each level, most apparently (if not overtly) relating to those involved in the particular proces known as teacher education.

All of this is not to say that the instant ado involving public education is bad. In a democracy like ours, which is special in its belief in universal education at public expenditure individuals and groups who perceive a personal interest in any issue be excited free to speak out, and rightly in like manner Few would hold that the democratic way is always the greatest in quantity efficient method for solving question s although evidence would substantiate that the best solutions usually come up from the tumult of make open debate. This has been the case and, I suspect, will be thus in the defining of educational principles, goals, and policies for the remainder of this century

At the risk of wandering from the topic at hand, I must say that my overall orientation toward public education today is positive. I really believe that, despite claims to the contrary, our indoctrinates have performed admirably, if not optimally. If individual is surprised at this statement, consider that observers spend about 1,000 hours each year in the classroom revealed of approximately 5,800 waking hours. What goe in succession during this relatively small amount of time exhausted in what of necessity is a specialized, structur somewhat artificial environment is greatly influenced from what happens during the other 4800 hours. And, sadly, although educators have struggled with the vexed question for years, students still consider "schooltime' apart from "lifetime.'

It is truthful that reading scores on standardized ordeals have declined; but it is also real that the amount of reading encouraged, required, actually done during "lifetime' has diminished significantly. (To learn to read, united must, after all, read.) Math scores are not what they used to be; neither is the time exhausted in the manual computation of basic mathematical functions in "lifetime.' Verbal skills are lower, yet to what extent do we communicate between the sides of conversation in "lifetime?' (How frequently time is there to talk when common watches television or listens to the stereo eight or more hours a day and is rely uponed to sit quietly through classes another six hours or so?)

Given all of this, combined with the vast number of other obstacles that our teachers face each day in the education of our young, it is apparent that the profession as a whole has done rather well for itself.

Still, the reports, speeches, editorials, and documents of the past not many months contain much truth about shortcomings in education, particularly teacher education. And it is this last area which keep possession ofs an important key to the continued succes and to come improvement of this process which we call public education.

Having been involved in the "teaching of teachers' for fifteen years, I must agree with many observations which have been made. I find that many scholars who graduate and seek teacher certification lack effective basic skills, that is, communications skills, mathematics skills, and thus forth. I couldn't agree more that the les talented, les knowledgeable, les capable close examiners often turn to teaching as an "insurance policy' against failure in a more applied field; the "best and brightest' do not as a sway choose teaching as a career. I agree that teachers are under-paid and under-respect through others (although one suspects that this is not a new state of affairs). There is no question that there are weak teachers; however, it is strange that doctors and lawyers are assumed to be uniformly pertinent It is true that many, many educators in the field fail to detain pace with current research and turns which could improve their performance. And, ye it is obvious that teacher education curricula frequently include a plethora of courses which have been added expediently above the years and which ne evaluation, combination, or unruffled deletion.

Now, for the big question: What can be done to improve the quality of strange teachers entering the field? What can be done to encourage the "best and brightest' to consider devoting a "lifetime' to the critical task of promoting the intellectual, physical, ethical, and aesthetic potentials of children and young adults? In answer to this, I have the intention the following ten courses of action:

1 Emphasis forward quality. Our thinking stand in want ofs to shift from "quantity' to "quality.' trouble should center not on the display of a teacher shortage, still upon the qualifications and characteristics of those who do teach or single out to teach. It could unruffled be that were teachers fewer in number and more proficient, the profession might begin to reap the notice and the rewards it claims as its befitting In the current situation, the glutt piece of work market in most teaching areas means that educate systems tend to hire forward the basis of who will accept a piece of work for the least remuneration as prolonged as a candidate appears reasonably acceptable, not who is the best, most numerous qualified applicant, and what it will take to convince him or her to accept a given position. No growth-oriented business could afford to think in this way!