Teaching is an Education Issue

If turning summer months into school attendance days is a pressing education issue, recruiting and retaining quality teachers must be as well. Teaching is a complex profession. The public has experience with teachers, but youth influences its memories. A portion of taxpayers believe teachers are underappreciated, another portion believes teachers get a three-month vacation and a final portion believes most teachers' jobs are simple after tenure. President Obama has called for more teachers, but this call may go unanswered if he and other education leaders ignore what the job entails.

In speaking about the Obama administration's TEACH Campaign, former teacher Steve Robinson excitedly said: "Teaching is a great job. If you are smart and talented, if you want to share your knowledge, if you want to join a respected profession, invest in yourself, invest in the future, and teach." Those are persuasive words and are exactly what future teachers believe. Teachers work 60-70 hours a week, ready to dedicate their lives to their students. The majority become teachers to make a difference. Although all jobs probably fall a short of the expectations freshman spell out in their college dorm room, teaching does in ways the public cannot fathom.

Outsiders to the teaching profession believe poor pay is the biggest teacher complaint. Teachers actually see low pay as a component of their deepest complaint: a lack of respect. Teachers feel disrespected from situations other professionals never encounter. Some days, teachers only communicate with 20-100 minors, who all have predisposed ideas concerning their behavior. Teachers are to look for and report bullying and suicidal tendencies in students, yet are not trusted with knowing students' personal information. Some, but not all, teachers have one prep period to use the restroom, make copies, call parents, plan lessons, clean their classrooms, organize themselves and their students, modify classroom décor for seasons and curriculum, grade papers and input grades. These expected duties that teaching schools and conferences push and that few acknowledge create an environment of disrespect. Compound that with numerous taxpayers and parents' evaluations of teaching jobs and well, a huge education issue emerges.

It is a wonderful goal to recruit and retain quality teachers. Education and perhaps political leaders need to make the profession more appealing. Two ideas hinder that this goal: One, many jobs are complex due to the same dilemmas that teachers face-ethical issues, unpaid hours, frequently changing laws and endless paperwork. Two, teaching is seen as a special calling, which requires a certain dedication. So, taxpayers, parents and education leaders have a decision to make: is teaching like all other professions? Do they want it to be? Can it be? If the answer to all three questions is 'no,' a colossal education issue is modifying the teaching profession. If the public and those involved in the TEACH Campaign expect teachers to rise to the occasion-raise students' test scores, their confidence, love of learning and then raise the public's perception of their professionalism, the teaching profession needs an overhaul.

Photo Credit: Kevin Dooley