I loved the fact that in high school, once that 2:20 p.m. bell rang, education was banned from entering my thoughts for the rest of the day. I loved that I was able to play sports, hang out with friends and still have plenty of time to relax with my family.
Still, I wish I had learned something in physics, rather than watch silly videos and fill out worksheets every day. All I remember from my history class is watching the musical “Oklahoma!” I think my government teacher spent as much time griping about how athletic coaches are bad instructors as she did actually teaching. And I have no idea what the state capitol of Vermont is.
I will admit I have had some great teachers, and I couldn’t be happier with the university I am attending as a result of my mediocre, small town, public school, K-12 experience.
I feel bad though when I hear that a good friend has dropped out of college because he or she just wasn’t prepared. I get frustrated when I am grouped with a student who doesn’t know elementary English.
Probably every person reading this column has had a moment in a class when they couldn’t help but think, “How did you even make it to college?”
President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently began pushing their model of educational reform, but strangely enough, education hasn’t been a hot topic in our school newspaper.
Whereas 21-year-olds suddenly stop complaining about the legal drinking age, I hope we have not stopped caring about our K-12 education system merely because it doesn’t directly affect us as much anymore.
Education reform provides the groundwork for a debate in which every college student can form an argument from personal experience. Contrast that with health care; it seems many students declare their position by mimicking their favorite politician or news figure.
So, take a look at the issues surrounding our education system, and use your own experience, good or bad, to form your opinion. I’ll share mine.
One of the most publicized proposals of Arne Duncan’s plan is to lengthen the school day and shorten summer vacation.
Depending on the specifics and the severity of the changes, more time at school would be, at best, a non-factor ego boost for our educational system.
Sure, we could boast that we have longer school days than our Asian counterparts. But does spending more time with unmotivated, uninspiring teachers really help young students?
I suppose children living in hostile environments could benefit from being at school for longer, but everybody knows a good education starts at home anyway. So unless the government is going to completely take away the parenting responsibilities from every “bad” parent, any proposed education reform should focus first on getting more value out of the time already invested in school.
How?
We need to get rid of the grumpy teacher who hates his or her job but loves the pay raises that come on the basis of tenure rather than performance. We need to ensure accountability on behalf of the coach who teaches on the side.
Merit-based pay raises, the ability to fire bad teachers and school vouchers are all viable steps toward increasing the quality of our education. To attract the right people in the first place, though, is the most important challenge.
Thus, I don’t see why teachers aren’t making six-figure salaries.
I mean, I understand economically why they aren’t, but don’t you agree that teachers are worth more than the current Oklahoma average salary of under $45,000?
(Please don’t pretend a low salary proves that every teacher today is doing his or her job out of pure altruism.)
Imagine what it would be like if teachers were paid at a level corresponding to their value to society, if they were viewed as highly as doctors.
Without a doubt, the OU College of Education would see an enormous increase in enrollment. When hearing that a highly motivated, high-achieving student is an education major, we would no longer think, “Wow. You could be doing a lot more.” We wouldn’t need programs like Teach for America to create prestige.
The increased competition for teaching jobs would deter the unqualified and uncaring from moving into education after their first plan fails. It would convince the brightest students to consider one of the most influential careers possible.
The fact is there are simply not enough high quality instructors in America; a significant pay raise would be a huge step toward putting great leaders in our classrooms.
So, I spent the first half of this column complaining about bad teachers, and the second half saying we should pay them more.
Well maybe if I had a better education, I could come up with an original idea that made more sense.
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JerryAtrick 2 years, 5 months ago
I hope our students are paying attention as the job outlook is dim. We will be competing for jobs with higher educated, more experienced people. A few years of pizza delivery will make the bridge courses look pretty bright!