Making teachers proud again; the nation's education, civic, and community leaders and parents of school-age children must make every effort to restore prestige to the teaching profession

We live today in the midst of major educational reform in this country. In many states, legislation designed to improve education has been enacted. On the surface at least all seems to be well. Without question, passage of legislation providing more pay for teachers was a major step. It was, in my judgment, a proper and essential first step. But, for those individuals with responsibilities for the governance of local school systems and for the preparation of future teachers--the reform movement has just begun.

Expectations have been raised to exceedingly high levels. Politicians have voted for better schools, and that is what they expect to get. They and their constituents will soon be paying more for better teachers, and that is what they expect to have.

In many states, the torch of leadership and the burden of responsibility have now passed to local school boards and schools of education. The tasks before those groups are both a challenge and an opportunity--a challenge to make worthy programs of reform work and an opportunity to take advantage of an aroused public which, for the first time in many, many years, seems genuinely interested in improving our school systems.

Education back on the front page

The question of public support is no small point. Not since the heady days that followed the Sputnik challenge have Americans displayed such strong interest in and support for public education. The media consider it front-page news; politicians recognize it as a hot and popular issue; citizens at large view it as a key factor in securing this nation's future.

This is indeed a special moment for public education. Here and now--in the waning years of the twentieth century--the opportunity exists to set in place the conditions which will determine well into the twenty-first century the lives and livelihoods of future generations. It is a rare opportunity. History shows that the attention span of the American people is but a trickle in the sands of time. Only once or twice a century can we expect the public to be aroused to a point where meaningful change can be effected. Now, in my judgment, is such a time; and it is we, the educators, who shall bear the burden of blame assigned to us by the historians of the future should we fail to take advantage of this opportunity.

Legislation designed to improve education--in and of itself--will not guarantee that a better quality student chooses to enter the teaching profession ... nor that schools of education will better prepare students for teaching careers. Neither will legislation alone ensure that teachers will teach better or that their students will learn more. Furthermore, more dollars alone will not necessarily improve the teaching-learning environment. What about the personal and professional welfare of teachers or, for that matter, the personal safety of both students and faculties? Better pay alone will not necessarily attract more and better individuals into a teaching profession that has been scarred rather significantly over the past several years. Who wants to be viewed as a second-class citizen, as teachers have been by too many people? Who wants to be surrounded by working conditions dominated by bureaucratic red tape and lax discipline?

Money less important than other rewards

Dr. Ernest Boyer, the distinguished President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, had something significant to say about this matter in an interview concerning his recently published book entitled High School, which, incidentally, I believe should be required reading for every school official in this country. Dr. Boyer said:

"We heard less about salary and merit pay than we did about working conditions. Many teachers have a sense of deep frustration about not being recognized and about being distracted and bureaucratically bogged down. If I had only one move to make, it would be improving the grubby day-to-day circumstances that cause teachers to throw up their hands and say, 'I'm finished!' We won't have excellence in education until we learn how to make teaching a more rewarding, less harassing job."

Throughout Boyer's book, teachers are quoted as lamenting the apathy of parents, the political gamesmanship of school officials, and the offensive behavior of unruly students.

One teacher commented: "You rarely get any kind of thank you from the parents or the community. In fact, there's no positive reinforcement of anything you do. Either they just don't care, or they think of us as goof-offs."

The central point is that much is yet to be done if we are, in fact, to have better schools. As for teacher training programs, the challenge is clear, yet difficult. For openers, colleges and universities must be more effective in the recruitment of the best young minds into our teacher training programs. The prospects for better pay as a result of legislative action will help in the efforts, as will foundation and governmental support for increased financial aid for students enrolled in teacher training programs. At the same time, screening processes to eliminate intellectually and emotionally inadequate students from schools of education must be refined and strengthened.

Recruiting potential teachers

At The University of Tennessee at Martin, for example, a concerted effort--supported by some $200,000 in grants from the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Tennessee Department of Education, and a major corporate foundation--is underway to produce a larger and more qualified pool of science and mathematics teachers in the nine counties of Northwest Tennessee. Also, a special task force within the UTM School of Education is moving toward a set of recommendations which will raise minimum standards for admission to the teacher training program, requiring, among other things, a higher grade point average as well as a more intensive pre-testing of prospective teachers' mental and emotional suitability for the teaching profession.

In addition, the curriculum required for prospective teachers is being redesigned with greater emphasis on field experience in the schools and on more intensive exposure to academic courses within a student's chosen discipline. Similar reforms are being considered at many of the other public teacher training programs in the United States.

There is within schools of education, I believe, a growing awareness of the need for change and a commitment to be responsive. Time will tell whether teacher training programs will be able to overcome the stigma of being viewed by many as havens for academically weak students.

As for the local school district, it seems quite clear that there are some basic reforms that will be essential if better schools do indeed become a reality and not simply a political slogan.

Beyond the obvious need for hiring the best teachers available, local boards of education must take a hard look at the environment in which they are asking teachers to teach. Better schools will remain an elusive goal as long as unruly student behavior is tolerated by school boards. As the Wall Street Journal suggested in a recent editorial, the "best teachers will find it hard to teach what they know in a blackboard jungle."

Discipline needed in classroom

Maintaining order in the classroom is no easy task, if current data are to be believed. And to say that the public is concerned and restless about the problem is probably an understatement. For 12 consecutive years the Gallup Poll has found that "lack of discipline" ranks as the public's number one concern in elementary and secondary education. Such concern is justified in view of a National Institute of Education report showing that each month 282,000 students and 5,200 teachers are assaulted in our nation's schools. The report also noted that 25 percent of the schools are vandalized each month. Clearly, classroom disruption is an obstacle to achieving better schools, and local school boards have the responsibility to develop and maintain strong and clearly stated discipline policies and to support fully and unequivocally school administrators in the enforcement of such policies. In my judgment, there is no room for compromise in the arena of discipline--it is either enforced or surrendered, and surrendered discipline is incompatible with the quest for educational excellence.

A second problem, simply stated, is the absence of prestige within the teaching profession. This is a deeply pervasive problem, one which saps morale and triggers self-doubts. As suggested earlier, who wants to be a second-class citizen? Yet, that is what we as a nation have permitted to happen to the teaching profession over the past couple of decades. The way in which our society views teachers stands in stark contrast to that of Japanese society. In that country--where educational excellence has been the foundation for Japan's phenomenal growth and development as an industrial giant--the honorific title sensei is highly coveted and proudly worn by teachers. No other position commands the respect that Japanese teachers enjoy. That Far Eastern society looks at the exalted sensei for counsel.

It was once that way in America. Those of us who came through the public school systems of the 1940's and 1950's probably remember well the two or three schoolmarms who taught effectively and earned the respect of the entire communities in which we lived. They were prominent citizens who were frequently visible in the media and often featured guests at civic functions. Stern and wise were the ways in which they were viewed.

Somewhere along the pathway through the turbulent sixties and seventies, teachers fell from their pedestals. Education in general slipped as a national priority. Discipline breakdowns in society as a whole eroded respect for discipline in the classroom. The rewards system for teachers fell behind those for previously less favored professions. And teachers suddenly found themselves shunned by much of society and, at worst, ridiculed by too many.

Renew respect for teachers

It is time to change those circumstances. In many states, legislative action will provide more respectable career ladder and income opportunities. But that alone will not reestablish the prestige that teachers once possessed. If, in fact, our teachers are to assume higher stature--to any degree comparable to the Japanese sensei--local school boards and communities at large must be more aggressive and more innovative. How long has it been since those of us in civic clubs invited a teacher or a principal to be a guest speaker? How long has it been since we encouraged local business and industry to pay tribute to the high achieving teachers in particular or to the teaching corps as a whole? How long has it been since we as parents conveyed to our children the critical role that teachers have in society? How long has it been since our school boards provided teachers with special incentives for excellence in the classroom and special rewards for high achievement?

Teachers of this country need better pay, but more than that they need greater respect. It is time to make teachers proud again.

In my opinion, respect for teachers will remain an elusive goal until school boards get tough on discipline and until the public at large--particularly parents of students--stand up in support of the proposition that the teacher is in charge of the classroom. It is time for parents to stop second guessing and undercutting teachers who assign homework, enforce discipline, and demand excellence in student performance. Little Johnny may prefer more play at school and less work at home, and too often, parents may concur. But that attitude must change if we are to move forward again. We must reinstate the proposition that teachers know best what is right for the development of the mind and intellect of the little Johnnies of this nation.

Private school environment aids learning

Many citizens seem to believe a better education is to be had in a private elementary or secondary school. Perhaps that is true, but I believe the jury is still out on that question. However, if it is true, I would suggest--based on my observations during four years of service as a trustee of a private school and as a parent of two youngsters who have studied in public schools in all three grand divisions of the state of Tennessee--that it is not because private school teachers are more competent or that the private school students are more capable learners. No, a primary factor may simply be that in a private school environment parents are intensely interested in the school and uncompromising in support of the teachers. Furthermore, the boards of trustees liberally delegate authority to school administrators and support unequivocally the teachers' quest for excellence in the classroom.

There are important lessons to be learned from the private school environment. Parents there are paying a premium for what they perceive to be educational quality. They expect, even demand, a safe and orderly school environment. At the same time, private school administrators know they must exert strong leadership. Teachers know they have the support of parents and trustees in the pursuit of academic excellence. Throughout the environment, there is a strong element of mutual trust and respect. All concerned are pursuing a common goal of quality teaching-learning. Too often, those ingredients are missing in the public school environment. It will take a concerted effort to change the status quo. But change we must if better schools are to become a reality.

This is a perilous time for public education. But it is also a time of great opportunity, a time of excitement, an exhilarating time for educators whose good fortune it is to be center stage in the arena of life, in the glare of the spotlight, as public education comes face to face with perhaps the greatest and most far-reaching reform movement of this century. Throughout this nation, decisions are being made to pay teachers better; now, it is time to make them proud again. In all probability, such an opportunity will not pass this way again in our lifetimes. We should make the best of it. And in the process, generations of the future will benefit.

COPYRIGHT 1984 U.S. Government Printing Office
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