Thursday, March 28, 2024

AdvertiseDonateSubmit
NewsSportsArtsOpinionThe QuadPhotoVideoIllustrationsCartoonsGraphicsThe StackPRIMEEnterpriseInteractivesPodcastsBruinwalkClassifieds

American education system needs to be revitalized to increase respect for teaching career

By Katrina Oh

Jan. 5, 2011 11:15 p.m.

When I finally told my parents during my first year of college that I wanted to become a teacher, they shook their heads in disappointment.

I have since succeeded in convincing my parents that teaching is indeed an honorable profession, but the stigma surrounding the teaching profession nonetheless remains.

Although an overwhelming number of UCLA students hopes to be doctors and lawyers, it is rare to hear of bright students hoping to be teachers.

But qualified teachers, who produce the next generation of doctors and lawyers, are precisely what the K-12 education system desperately needs.

Dismal test scores such as the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment indicate that the U.S. is lagging behind many other developed countries.

Fifteen-year-old Americans are performing at barely average levels, coming in 23rd or 24th out of 65 countries in most subjects.

Motivated and bright teachers must be recruited to improve America’s below-par education system. Attracting individuals to the teaching profession, however, will require a new approach in the way teaching is publicized.

Considering the notoriety that precedes the profession ““ from its low salary to its intricate bureaucracy ““ this is easier said than done.

Shannon Garrison, an alumna of UCLA’s Center X Teacher Education Program, deplores the negative light in which the teaching profession is portrayed.

“There is nobody reaching out and saying this is a great career. The press in general loves to cover what’s going wrong with everything while there are too few stories about what’s going right,” she said.

Although it is important that undergraduates considering the teaching profession recognize the many challenges that lie ahead, until now disproportionate attention has been focused on the hardships and not the joys.

Garrison, who has taught at Solano Avenue Elementary School for 14 years, said her job is never boring because it is different every day.

Especially gratifying is when former students visit, regaling her with tales of their freshman year in college.

Despite the challenges that are inherent within the profession, the intangible rewards teaching offers make it a very unique career.

Prestigious schools like UCLA should more aggressively promote the profession to undergraduates because it is these students who will have received the best training to become optimal teachers.

Garrison, who studied psychology as an undergraduate student at UCLA, received the prestigious Milken Educator Award for her exemplary service inside the classroom. There is no one right path to teaching: All students, regardless of their major, can expect to be good teachers as long as they are willing.

UCLA should forge formal partnerships with local schools, enabling undergraduates to directly impact the community by either serving as tutors or teacher’s assistants. This will better inform undergraduates as to whether teaching is a career worth thinking about, while future generations will undoubtedly benefit from these concerned teachers.

Only when the overall quality of teachers improve can the profession itself ever expect to garner the respect that it has always deserved.

Uplifting rhetoric should also permeate the federal level. Even President Barack Obama, the spokesman for hope, neglects to mention the excitement that is latent in the teaching profession. Sure, he reminds us that a nation without sound education is economically untenable, but when individuals are deliberating their career pathways, reviving the economy of a nation is not the primary factor they weigh in their calculus. Only when Obama promotes this will he be able to convince more undecided minds to consider teaching.

Contrary to what has often been reported by the media, money is not the primary antidote that will cure the ailing education system.

Only three countries ““ Luxembourg, Switzerland and Norway ““ annually spend more money per student than the United States does, yet the outcomes for us are dismal.

The PISA results from 2003 show that the Czech Republic, which only spent a third as much per student as the United States did, found itself amongst the top 10 in the rankings as opposed to the U.S., which came in 24th out of the 29 countries compared.

The real cure is something far more cost-effective: positive publicity.

Think teaching is a drag? E-mail Oh at [email protected]. Send general comments to [email protected].

Share this story:FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Katrina Oh
COMMENTS
Featured Classifieds
More classifieds »
Related Posts