Who's teaching your children
- May 6, 2018
- 3 min read
How I came across this book: Gates notes
Favorite Line from the book:
“In a completely rational society, the best of us would aspire to be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something less, because passing civilization along from one generation to the next ought to be the highest honor and responsibility anyone could have.” Lee Iacocca
This is the most important book I have read so far as it encircles the fundamental principle of my fundraiser – education for children. Vivian Troen implements professional development school initiatives at Brandeis University, and Katherine Boles is an education lecturer at the Harvard graduate school of education. They are more than educators; they are leaders and visionaries in their field. In any democratic civilization, the future of the electorate depends upon the education of its children. I think education is the key to the problems of our ever-expanding population. Teachers play a key role in education, but there is an acute shortage of good teachers in public education. Vivian and Katy throw light on the some of the problems revolving around this crisis and suggest some solutions. Compare this crisis to a swimming pool with a massive hole. Instead of sealing the leak, the policymakers are trying to fill up the pool regularly with dirty water (poor quality teachers). This book flowed like a novel, but it was written as non-fiction. Authors have argued that the society should uphold the standards in teaching the same way they look at surgery. It was refreshing to see some other profession looking up to surgery.
Let me start by mentioning some of the statistics discussed in this book – all related to US teachers.
1. 30% of the teachers do not meet the minimal standards
2. 25% of all secondary school teachers do not have a college minor in their main field
3. Only 30% of teachers feel well prepared to use technology in their classroom
We have come a long way from a single classroom concept over the course of last three centuries. However, education has not transformed over the last century to keep up with the pace of rapid development and rising population. There is a circle of dysfunction with the current education system. First, teaching is not attractive as a career. Second, there is a lack of teaching preparation programs. Third, the professional life of teachers is unacceptable. There are no standards, and the certification process is almost non-existent. Even plumbing requires certification. Imagine getting your gallbladder taken out by a surgeon who is not certified (this is taken directly from the book). Teachers receive poor preparation and minimal support in their job. Isolation rather than team work is the norm in teaching, which increases teacher’s frustration even more. Our society itself has double standards – parents want their kids to be taught by the best teachers, but they never encourage them to become a teacher!
More testing, more homework, homeschooling, charter schools, voucher program, school for profit, are some of the Band-Aid programs by the government (trying to seal the hole in the swimming) but each one of them has problems (they are all temporary seals, and the dirty water continues to flow). Vivian and Katy suggest the concept of millennium schools. Primary education should be based on a model similar to hospitals where doctors work in a team, do grand rounds, seniors support juniors, teachers are encouraged to do research, scientifically oriented professional development program are in place to support teachers, and there is a hierarchy in the profession with rising pay and a structured multi-level career (chief instructor, professional teacher, associate teacher, etc.).
This book is based on public school system in America. If this is the reality in the United States, then imagine the situation in some of the developing countries. The circle of dysfunction is working at a much higher level in these countries. As I mentioned, education is the key to development for every nation and society. Even though there are some signs of hope, like the model of education has changed recently – from teacher-centered learning to student-centered learning, but the changes have to reflect for the whole society. Franklin Roosevelt said, “the test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” Citizens around the world have to understand the importance of education and choose their governments accordingly if we want to pull our societies to a better future. That future depends upon how we prepare our teachers to teach our children.
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