Same old story for teachers…
“Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, told the nation’s governors on Wednesday that in exchange for billions of dollars in federal education aid provided under the economic stimulus law, he wants new information about the performance of their public schools, much of which could be embarrassing… To get their share of the money, governors must pledge to improve teacher quality, raise academic standards, intervene in failing schools more effectively and carry out other education initiatives.”
-New York Times, April 1st, 2009
Perhaps the best advice anyone could give teachers is to simply stop reading the news. If any professional should hang on to their idealism, it would probably have to be teachers. What other options do we have?
In a profession that employees close to 4,000,000 Americans, it is no surprise regulations and accountability has watered down the efforts of many and disheartened the most energetic education enthusiasts. However, if you’re taking this all to heart, your mind is in the wrong place.
We’re always going to have a bureaucratic mess in areas where 4 million individuals are employed by the government and demanding equal pay.
This is certainly easier said then done, but there is really one answer to this dilemma… We just have to throw our hands up in the air and say, “Oh well!” and then get back to work!
Go get your master’s degree in education, start earning more money and do the best you can! We love teaching. It’s a great job and it still is incredibly important to the development and well-being of young people, regardless of the inefficiency and bad press the system receives