Challenges to Teacher Education

Abstract

Today, American education faces a crisis. It is not too extreme to say that public education hangs in balance. Anyone who has read history of American education knows that there have always been critics. But they did not want public education dismantled. They wanted it to be better. Today, however, there are critics who believe that public education itself is obsolete. The latest manifestation of this view can be seen in a report released in December 2006 called Tough Choices or Tough Times (National Center on Education and Economy, 2006). It came from a group called New Commission on Skills of American Workforce. Some of best known names in American education signed report, including former Secretaries of Education Rod Paige and Richard Riley; Tom Payzant, recently retired Superintendent of Schools in Boston; and Joel Klein, chancellor of New York City public schools. The commission says that our public school system is obsolete. We must start all over. Statistic after statistic is tossed out to show that other countries are overtaking us and we are losing global competition because of our public schools. Engineering jobs are being outsourced to India, commission says, where corporations can hire an engineer for only $7,500 a year, whereas in United States, same engineer would earn at least 5 to 6 times as much. Logic suggests that corporations are going where they can get educated labor at salaries that are unthinkable in United States, but Tough Choices commission insists that public schools are to blame, not wage differential. The commission says that our teachers are not coming from right strata of society. They say that we must recruit the best and brightest to teach in our schools. And how will we do this? We must raise starting salaries to $45,000 and top salaries to $110,000. This may be expensive, commission says, but we can pay for it by cutting retirement benefits of teachers--reducing their pensions and health benefits, so that they are commensurate with what is available to workers in private sector. To say least, this is not a realistic proposition. Teaching is and always has been a mass profession; it will never be staffed exclusively by graduates from Ivy League colleges and universities. Set aside for a minute implicit snobbery and condescension behind this pursuit of the best and brightest. If commissioners really expect to recruit large numbers of Ivy League graduates, they should propose tripling pay scale for teachers. Until they do, I expect that teachers will not relinquish their retirement benefits. The commission proposes an elaborate new examination system--assuming that our students are not tested enough! They would have all students take a super-high-stakes test at end of 10th grade. Those who score really well would be allowed to finish 2 more years of high school and then take another high-stakes exam to see if they are fit to go to college. Those who score well enough would then be funneled to community colleges. What would happen to those who did not pass any of these exams? The commission says, not to worry, kids can take exams again and again and eventually everyone will pass. Apparently, this group of eminent leaders feels that we have not done a good enough job of sorting kids into winners and losers and preventing less prepared from going to good colleges. The most outrageous proposal of commission is that in future, all public schools should be turned over to private managers. The role of school boards would be to approve performance contracts with these managers and monitor their performance. In effect, commission recommends complete privatization of American public education. Who would these private managers be? The commission does not say, though it suggests that they might be corporations owned and run by teachers. …