I recently saw another news story about the current teacher shortage. The lack of qualified professionals is only one dimension, another is that young or beginning teachers are leaving the profession at an alarming rate. Lots of one-and-done careers. As a retired teacher who went the distance(34 years), I am concerned and outraged that the powers that be don't do something drastic.
We need to maintain the notion of a public school system that values equality and adequately provides the type of education that our kids deserve. Who would want to enter a profession that undervalues all the time and effort it takes to educate a person? If we vetted and tested candidates for public office they way we attempt to vet teachers, we'd have a Congress that could pass some legislation that would properly fund school systems.
Everybody agrees that teachers should be paid more, especially given the demands and the time required to effectively do the job. Yet nothing happens. Wealthy communities have the highest salaries, and poor communities have lower pay aside from fewer resources. What else is new.
Class size is always among the reasons that teachers quit. Don't let anybody tell you differently. It matters. It makes a difference.
So offer some solutions. OK, I will. What's the old saying that applies...Desperate times call for desperate solutions? Daring solutions. Rather than desperate let's use radical, out-of-the-box, don't let anybody tell you differently Here's one. Create a program for retired teachers to come back and teach one class. Yes, one class. Pull 5 students from an overcrowded classroom and create a new class of 15 and give it to a veteran teacher who comes in for just one class. 15 students are manageable and won't create the enormous paper load that 37-40 does. Pay a salary of 1/5 the full one and you don't even need to worry about benefits because retirees have those already.
I cannot guarantee that this would work, but it should make an impact on those teachers with a full-time schedule and could open up other benefits for an entire faculty. I might be tempted to return for a part-time gig like that.
The point is that we have to do something, given the current state of affairs. If the forces of segregation at work in this divided country should prevail, we'll lose all hope of a culture that truly values diversity. Private and charter schools will attract and pull kids and parents of privilege to fund and run their own schools and leave those born into generational poverty to fend for themselves. We're better than that. I hope.
That our public school systems have taken a big hit by COVID, there can be no doubt. Let's turn some things around with some dynamic solutions.
Footnote: As a young teacher with 10 years of experience, I was laid off for the third time. When I returned the following year, I was ultimately assigned to my old school because the class sizes were ridiculously high. A program was put together for me that included 4 preps in two departments. The dregs... but nevertheless, a job! One of my classes was a 9th-grade World History class. The teachers of the largest overflowing 9th grad World History classes were allowed to pick 3-5 students that would be transferred to my newly formed class. I knew that they'd probably pick their most challenging or troublesome students. No matter, as I was often reminded, "You're lucky to have a job." So this new class was formed and to it was added a smattering of students who transferred to my school later in the year and students that enrolled later in the year or came from other placements like Juvenile Hall. I think the total enrollment of this new history class was about 16. On any given day about 12-14, students attended. That was so uncommon those days. Yes, there were behavior problems in that class. Yes, many of those kids were not the stellar students that any teacher would love to have. But they were so small a group by the standards of the day that it made for an unusual and memorable teaching experience. It was the last class of the day. The first thing I did was tell the students to make a large semi-circle, a kind of half-moon-shaped seating arrangement. I pulled a student desk and would sit in front of the crescent-shaped class. There was nowhere for anybody to hide. It was more intimate and relaxed than most classrooms. It worked, too. This class was not the difficult situation I originally expected given the nature of the student population. Yes, many of these kids had attendance problems, they'd get suspended now and then but not for behavior in my classroom. 9th-grade kids do a lot of stupid things, like throwing spit wads, and sneaking looks at comic books, cell phones, or notes passed. That still happened, but rarely in this little group. I truly think the size of the group and the seating arrangement helped me accomplish many of my objectives and ultimately led to a better experience for all. We read literature as a group, viewed photos, artwork, films, and videos as a group, and shared ideas as a group. I swear, some of these kids never had that experience before. I don't want a medal, just some acknowledgement that class size matters and we can do something about it.
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