What's Wrong With Teachers?

Many Americans point to teachers as the source for any school’s success, and maybe they are right? It seems like a reasonable answer, considering they are the ones providing children with the knowledge that is supposed to lead to their success. If this is true, then shouldn’t improving the school system be as easy as improving teachers, or maybe it’s not that simple.
In my last blog, I spoke about the video “Stupid in America,” which I didn’t mention also talked about teachers. During the video, the subject of teachers was brought up in a variety of situations and from many different points of views. The students that were interviewed commented on specific teachers mentioning things like, “He only teaches for the benefits,” “She could care less about her students,” and “He even showed up intoxicated one day.” As I watched this part, I tried to remember all of my past teachers and although I went to a top high school, I too had experienced many of these things. I specifically remember a science teacher whose short temper and opinionated lessons almost got him in a fist fight with a student. There was also a math teacher who blatantly picked favorites to the point of openly giving certain people right answers during tests, while leaving the rest of the class to fend for themselves. Both teachers should have been immediately fired and yet to my knowledge they are still teaching and probably doing the same thing. I also had some amazing teachers that I will never forget, one of which was let go after I had her, due to budget cuts. At the time I didn’t understand how one of the most liked teachers could get fired over a teacher that kids had been complaining about for years. I later learned how the system works and as the film points out, even the most amazing teacher is still at risk of losing his, or her job if there are other teachers who have worked there longer. That is exactly why my favorite teacher got fired and the two teachers who made it clear they could care less about the success of their students, got to stay. What kind of system does not differentiate good from bad and bases who they fire on length of stay and not competence? It’s definitely not how successful corporations work, or any business of that matter, because why would an employee be motivated to put in the extra effort if they knew they weren't getting fired? In that respect, why would they put in any effort at all, especially since they were not getting rewarded? These are the questions that trouble almost all unified schools and as the budget continues to get cut, so do the eager new teachers, who often bring new knowledge and teaching styles to schools stuck in their ways. Most of the time, these potentially amazing teachers turn to private schools, or give up teaching all together. It doesn’t help that most young public school teachers only make around $30,000 a year, which is not effected by how well they do their job. In this day and age, you can make a lot more money with 6+ years of higher education than a public school teacher.
So if teachers are so important, why do we pay them so little and why do we not fire incompetent ones? The issue with income is a little bit complicated, but I will remind you of the continuously growing Iraq budget in the top right hand corner of this page and the already $502 billion dollars we have spent in Iraq. I bet there is a lot of great teachers that would still have their jobs and probably be paid a lot more, if it wasn't for that $502 billion dollars. The issue of firing new teachers over veterans, even though the new teachers are doing a better job is a matter of the union. The teacher’s union is one of the strongest and most influential unions in the country and it is their rules that make it so hard to fire long time teachers. This is not the only negative effect they have on schools, but I will wait till later to get into that.
Back to the real issue at hand, what is wrong with our teachers, other than what I’ve already mentioned? This is of course highly dependent on the individual and the school district, but there are some fundamental problems that are not necessarily the teacher’s fault. One of the biggest issues is teachers lack of input on curriculum and teaching styles, due to state and district regulations. Why do teachers even have to go to college if they are going to be forced to teach directly out of a book and why do students have to attend class? I know that in college I never went to my classes where the teacher read directly off of a power point. Why would I go to class when I could be reading the same thing in my bed? We must encourage teachers to be creative in their approach and motivate students to share their own ideas. Teachers must also be allowed flexibility with the curriculum and urged to find new sources of information that could relate to the subjects being taught. We must also find a way to reorganize the union and its rules, so that the best teachers get rewarded and those who fall behind get cut. If our children are the future of this country and teachers play such a crucial role in their success, then why do we spend so little on both our teachers and our schools?