Undoubtedly, it is not easy being a teacher these days. Demands are high, stress is epidemic, and pressure to be the solution for all that ails the educational system comes from many angles.
Therefore, the results of a recent survey of public school principals from throughout Washington should not be surprising. But that doesn’t make them any less disturbing. Among the most alarming finding: 80 percent of principals say they have had to hire underqualified teachers to fill a position in the wake of a national teacher shortage. As Gary Kipp, executive director of the Association of Washington School Principals, told KOMO news in Seattle: “What we are really talking about here is not a substitute shortage; it’s a teacher shortage and we are sucking substitutes into the teaching roles to fill those classes.”
For all of the discussion — at both the national and the state levels — regarding education reform, the first effort should be to bolster the availability of quality teachers. To hear critics of university education programs tell it, that could be difficult. In 2013, Barbara Nemko and Harold Kwalwasser wrote for the Wall Street Journal: “Entrance requirements to most colleges of education are too lax, and the requirements for graduation are too low.”
On the other hand, it often is a knee-jerk reaction for the public to blame teachers for the shortcomings of students. In 2014, Dana Goldstein wrote a book called “The Teacher Wars,” and an article in The Atlantic summarized the work thusly: “Healthcare has its critics, but few of them are calling for doctors to be replaced. Education is different — and as a new book reveals, it has been throughout U.S. history.” So, rather than make a scapegoat of teachers, we will note that parental involvement and the placing of a high priority on education is essential to creating a successful learning environment.
