Cure for Teacher Shortage: Let Teachers Teach

By James Nehring

Our public schools face a growing teacher shortage. Results from several rounds of teacher exams in my home state, Massachusetts, suggest that some who wish to enter teaching may lack basic skills, which means the teacher shortage is even deeper than we feared.

What is the solution? "Get tough" measures such as penalizing teacher education programs for low test scores won't swell the ranks of candidates. And signing bonuses will lead only to short-term commitments. To find a real solution, we should ask why so few of our best and brightest college graduates pursue a teaching career in the first place.

Could the sad truth be that teaching in many schools is dull work? Talented people want to work in interesting places, and schools, as a place of work, are rendered more uninteresting every year. The causes are as well known as...