No More Silver Bullets
Let’s Fix Teacher Education
As autumn comes into focus each year, American education experiences an unseemly spectacle. I’m referring to the annual scramble of school districts across America to recruit teachers who will educate our nation’s children. Paradoxically, teacher shortages and the emergency recruitment of teachers—which in recent years has included “headhunters” roaming foreign lands with hiring bonuses clutched in their hands—highlight both the importance of teachers and their role in our society and, at the same time, lead to the conclusion that it is relatively easy to fill these jobs. The granting of so-called emergency teaching licenses on a routine basis to uninitiated and untrained recruits is a short-term solution to what is shaping up to be a long-term disaster. For in the next decade, our nation’s schools will need to hire millions of teachers ready to move a generation of young Americans into the knowledge-based economy. American colleges and universities are not prepared to meet the challenge—and they must be.
How is it possible that the United States, which claims to have three-fourths of the world’s finest universities—and boasts 1,300 schools of education—has, in recent years, not only lacked qualified teachers but also had to venture beyond its own borders to find them? For answers, we may look to our own economic rules of supply and demand. After all, the nation never seems to lack for lawyers, doctors, and architects but always seems to have a “Teacher Vacancy” sign blinking outside the schoolhouse door. Why hasn’t teaching flourished, following the path of other professions? A century ago, law, medicine, and school teaching were all considered to be vocations. All of them became professions, but the status of teaching never rose very high.
The other professions gained high status by developing prestigious training schools and rigorous certification for entrance and advancement. They are vigilant against substandard institutions and training programs. Also, accountants, engineers, and other valued professionals are respected for their special knowledge. Their careers give them authority, autonomy, and independence to make important decisions. It goes unquestioned that professionals must receive adequate support, the latest technology, and work environments conducive to efficiency and creativity. As to compensation, as we know, society usually rewards them generously. Teaching clearly falls short on all of these professional markers. In this connection, we should heed the warning of Louis V. Gerstner Jr., the former chairman of IBM and currently the chairman of the Teaching Commission (of which I am a member), who reminds us: “We [as a nation] will not continue to lead if we persist in viewing teaching—the profession that makes all other professions...
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