Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Interesting article: Teaching as Self-Sacrifice

From the posts contributed thus far, some may say that selling points of the career include...
- Potential for summers off to raise children
- Possible lower college selectivity for entrance to program
- Possible lower college debt due to shorter program than some other professions
- Potential for competitive salary and benefits package depending upon location, grade level & subject taught
- Potential for pay raises as further educational credentials are earned
- Potential for financial security through lifelong post-retirement benefits including healthcare

As compared and contrasted with this list of tangible personal rewards to those successful in the profession, "selfless nobility" is often associated with efforts which do not provide tangible personal rewards but solely an internal sense of having made a difference. For example, volunteerism. Teaching may not be easy, but neither are most jobs/careers, a growing number of which may require employees to be on call and leave family/friends at a moment's notice to work 24/7/365.

Some may therefore agree with the article and also the comment (at the link, following the article) which states words to the effect that having a charity mindset may also be condescending toward the pupils and therefore denigrate them.

This is not to disparage educators or those who seek to go into the teaching profession. It is merely taking a realistic look at the tangible personal benefits which are offered, in general.

True, but compensation is a part of that, because if you're compensated well, then it isn't sacrifice.

"Prestige" will come to the US teacher corps when US teachers earn it, maybe through high scores on tests like the GRE and Miller Analogies, and definitely when most teachers are knowledgeable about the subjects they teach. Right now, this just isn't the case, yet very few people seem to want to address this problem. Teaching is a respected profession in other countries, primarily because of high entry requirements. Prestige is earned.

I agree that there are way too many kids in most public school classes and that this makes things very hard for teachers. But lots of people have hard jobs. I don't hear firefighters complaining that they'd do better if someone just paid them more. !!!

I agree that NCLB is a disaster, but let's be honest: most of the adults here started (finished?) school before it came along, and a lot of us faced the same educational deficiencies that our children face. NCLB just made an existing problem worse.

Etc.

Honestly, it's hard for me to understand how people here can complain so bitterly about local teachers/teaching practices, yet not acknowledge that the overall low quality the teacher corps is a serious part of that problem. Yes, there are amazing and intelligent teachers, but they're rare compared to the ones who don't see through the ultimate bad homework questions, and we all know it. And a lot of the good ones quit, leaving us with math teachers who have degrees in "x studies" where x =/= anything technical.

Per the original article... I've known many people in many professions who see their work as acts of self-sacrifice whether they are doing it for the children, their fellow workers, society, the stockholders, or whatnot. Seemingly insular positions are often surprisingly universal.

Common teacher complaints are common employee complaints.

Well said.

Agreed! This may ultimately be what lends a sense of purpose and meaning to one's work, keeping individuals striving and stretching as life-long learners with a growth mindset.

Val: I can't say tarring them all with the same brush is fair at all. Yes, my DD has had a couple of lousy teachers, and a couple of mediocre ones. She's also had a couple of really awesome ones.

Unfortunately, even the awesome ones are constantly being undermined by bad policies.

What Dude said.

Remember, I was speaking about teachers as a group. I also said that there are very talented, knowledgeable people teaching. But the problem is that they're a minority.

The most recent average GRE score for education majors going into teaching is 150 for verbal (44th percentile) and 149 for math (37th percentile). These scores are at the bottom for all test takers. This story is the same, regardless of the year the data was published. Average scores for future teachers are always at the bottom. Booklet with scores by major Percentile values for scores

I can't find averages for Miller Analogies, but it's easy to look up required scores for individual programs. Miller Analogies is seen as a decent-ish proxy for an IQ test. A score of 400 is average, and the SD is 25.

The Uni of SC's department of Special Ed. requires a minimum score of 388 for entry into its M.Ed. program (I found other parts of the education department with the same requirements). This means they're probably taking people with IQs in the 90s. Here's what they require at Tennessee State:


These requirements are TYPICAL.

So, sure, there are some bright and knowledgeable teachers out there. But the test scores and admissions requirements tell an important story: as a whole, the US teacher corps is not super-intelligent or super-knowledgeable. I honestly don't understand why people don't seem to be disturbed by this fact, and it bothers me that bringing it up garners unpleasant accusations about bashing. Nobody likes to talk about this problem but it's real and it's serious, and I doubt we'll make any meaningful progress with our schools in this country until we do.

It's been common knowledge for years that education majors, as a whole, are not the sharpest tools in the shed.

Don't worry, though, since we've solved the problem by making college effectively mandatory if you want to join the workforce.

Wow, depressing. What's funny is that I've been getting frustrated thinking they (my son's teachers) are being purposely obtuse to annoy me and because they have their own agenda... Now I am realizing they are probably not pretending to be unintelligent and not knowledgeable they actually really are that insipid. I'm not sure by which I am more bothered. What else is funny - many around here don't seem to notice it. I hear people rave about this district. How talented the teachers are, how "fabulous" they are. I've been very unimpressed. I kept thinking it was me - I'm missing something. It seems not.