OUR WORK FUTURE It amazes me that we continue to experience with all sorts of difficulties in our educational system without anything seriously being done about correcting obvious wrongs.
We become aware of such lapses in our system at this time of the graduation speeches are so numerous. It is a special time which makes many critics wonder.
We become aware of many problems which exist and ,while we have had a plethora of suggestions as to what needs to be done. Some of them are quite valid, I'm sure, but very little, if anything, actually gets done about making the adjustments needed to bring about such urgently needed changes.
We should regret the day the term "educators" became common in our language with the intent of giving the word "teachers" a more glamorous aura. It has become a common term which now seems to include everyone from the "almost"or soon-to-be" or, "barely" certified teacher - on up the academic ladder to the holders of Master's Degrees - as well as everyone else who happens to have a job , doing almost anything in or around the school area. All are spoken of as being "prominent educators in our community" It is time to put "teaching" back in the respective and respected niche it once occupied ...an area set apart to mean someone trained to teach youngsters - a graduate of a college or university dedicated to the specific training of teachers for the specialized job of teaching the youth of our land.
All colleges which used to proudly bear the name "Teacher's College" have erased the name and the concept that went along with it. The term "educators" has seeped into politics, as well. and our President and Vice-President talk at great length - and loudly, at times, - governmental flaunt their expertize concerning "education". Our President some years ago spoke of "hiring l00,000 new teachers", but never mentioned where these trained teachers were to be found or where they are going to find classrooms in which to do their teaching.
Few colleges, today, make any pretense of trying to prepare young people for teaching. "Teaching" is, in the main, now considered to be a by-product of the educational process which centers on a wider variety of subject matter than was ever thought possible. The attitude seems to be "they can always teach." if they are unsuccessful in their specialized field. Far too many individuals do not find suitable employment in their exotic field of study at college and they apply to the local high school to become a teacher. Here they are welcomed with open arms by administrators - who, remember, are "educators" - who are looking for a body to fill a job-slot which is open on the staff. So, magically, the Phys. Ed. major from college starts teaching English, French, Math or Biology - whatever happens to be open at the time.
Hiring new teachers to work in non-existent classrooms is hardly the way to go about it. As long as continue to have this ostrich attitude it is all costing vast amounts of money, time and youthful minds. We need basic reform and large part of it all, it would seem to me, would be that we redefine what we mean - really mean - when we say "educators." If, in the next decade we can find a way to actually train even a cadre group; just a fraction of the mythical hundred thousand young people to be genuine teachers in the finest sense of the word we will have taken a first step toward solving some of our problems.
We have political, economic and social problems, to consider, as well.
What do you think ought to be done to put a stop to the flagrant off-shoring of employment opportunity? Even now when next fall's college classes are being formed it is already evident that fewer young people will be training in computer technology, largely because they see a marked trend showing the truly worthwhile computer jobs being shipped overseas. Why train for a field which have been exported to foreign shores where our manufacturing skills and capabilities have, long ago, been shamefully exiled?
A.L.M. June 20, 2005 [c704wds]
