Teacher Shortage Not Alleviated by Education Innovation Forum

A Letter To the Editor worth posting. 

Not written by the PR department of Spearman's Department of Education!

Letters: Teacher shortage

I attended the Aug. 31 Education Innovation Forum at the Francis Marion Hotel, because I was attracted by the possibility of an honest discussion about teacher shortage and retention. I was sadly disappointed, because it became a typical administrative “pat each other’s back” for a job well done.

There was no mention of the negative perception of teachers by the public and the general student body, no discussion of the reasons for the middle class abandoning public schools or of the funding needed to adequately pay the teaching staff. Nothing was mentioned about the low morale of teachers as a consequence of administrative neglect and abuse. We have allowed adults to abrogate their responsibility to discipline children when they misbehave in the classroom.

The superintendent offered nothing to the conversation. And there was no mention of the fact that the governor proposed the previous day to remove the teachers’ pension and replace it with a 401(k). School officials spoke of using PR to elevate the perception of the teacher. I think they meant to increase the deception of the public. Poverty was mentioned as the biggest obstacle for learning.

My friends and I were poor as church mice, yet we became scientists, engineers, scions of industry and, yes, teachers. Attitude is the obstacle to success in the classroom.

The primary speaker spent an hour trumpeting her program, mentioning innovation and digital portals, along with other such meaningless edu-speak, the kind that I was subjected to during my 30 years as a high school teacher. I reminded her that the only portal that was used in my day was between our ears, and it was very successful.

Too much money is wasted on services that are duplicated on the state and federal level. If we are going to attract youngsters to the teaching profession, the role of the administrator must be changed to one of support for teachers. The only people who count in the educational process are the teachers and their students. Everyone else is superfluous. [italics mine]

Ian Kay
Wingo Way

Amen!