The article I read was about the alarming number of people who have considered leaving their current jobs to become teachers. A survey by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation in New Jersey concluded that 42 percent of college educated 24 to 60 year olds would consider making this switch. There are two ways to look at this: as a student studying to become a teacher, and as a potential parent who will someday be putting their own children through school.
As a parent, this influx of teachers is very promising. Pretty soon, the baby boomer age will have to retire, leaving countless slots open in our country's classrooms. All the potential career switchers can make up for this deficit. The fact that they WANT to be teachers is also a very good thing. Rather than just having someone teach because that's what they ended up doing, students will be taught by people that actually want to teach. The survey sites that giving back to the community and helping others are two huge reasons why people would make this switch.
As a student studying to become a teacher, like many of us are, this is a very scary statistic. To think that we will pay for and attend up to six years of school, and not have a career afterwards personally terrifies me. My only consolation is that most schools still require that you major in the field you want to teach. This will make it at least somewhat difficult for these career switchers to pick up teaching.
In a world where people can seemingly switch careers on the turn of a dime, am I being selfish in my fear? I could think as a parent and just be glad that students will be taught by people who want to teach them - but I am one of those people.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
This article was sort of an eye opener for me as well. Repeatedly, I have been told that English is one of the hardest education fields to enter, not only because it is competitive but also because there are simply not a lot of job openings. However, this article is quick to remind us of the vacancies that will start to occur due to the retirement of baby boomers, and it also focuses on what I consider could be the new competition myself and my peers are soon to face.
The part of the article that interested me the most was when David Haselhorn, Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship senior, stated that "'money alone isn’t the answer. Potential teachers also want better working conditions and quality preparation programs that offer classroom experience, deeper content and pedagogical knowledge, and ongoing support once they enter teaching'" (1). He stated this in regards to people who are considering teaching as a second career, or a complete career switch. However, doesn't it make more sense that those ideas apply to anyone entering the field of teaching?
I agree that the fact that the career switchers want to be teachers is a "good thing" but I think that just wanting something is completely different from having the skills and preparation to do something. Also, what kind of commitment and experience are these different individuals offering to education? I like the idea that an author could teach an English class...but is that appropriate for high school? I think this starts to become an issue of what kind of information is valuable for a high school diploma? What subjects, ideas, values, etc. do we want to teach our kids...and then, who is best to teach these things?
More so, this made me wonder if we, as students, are being properly prepared to do and give our best to our future students once we graduate.
Post a Comment