Teacher’s resignation letter: ‘My profession … no longer exists’

[AHSPanther23]

Got this from a friend. Really interesting perspective on education today and how it has affected teachers who have gone through the constant turnover of testing changes, No Child Left Behind, and other education reforms.

 

Increasingly teachers are speaking out against school reforms that they believe are demeaning their profession, and some are simply quitting because they have had enough.

[plantmanky]

So true, TBG would be a good one to post details on this but teachers are not able to truly teach anymore. It is really sad because the good teachers, the really good ones are the ones walking away, retiring at the first chance because of the way things are now.

[ESPNdeux]

We teach to the test. Not to the real world. Thats my biggest issue.

[AHSPanther23]

We teach to the test. Not to the real world. Thats my biggest issue.

 

Amen to that! Got to make sure you hit all points on the Common Core and get them prepped for K-Prep.

[Habib]

I read this over the weekend and I had a lot of thoughts about it.

 

I think the author is generally on point regarding education reforms. It seems that most reforms are simply more regulations and more requirements, which effectively turns the teacher into an automaton. I believe that sterilizes education. Students are gauged on how well they perform on specific exams based on the rote administration of the specific criteria by teachers whose passion and expertise are neutered. I think this leads to less educated students and to less talented teachers individuals choosing the profession.

 

I think this stems from a lot of things. Students in the United States severely underperform compared to their peers in developed countries. Thus, there’s a problem to be fixed. However, most proposed solutions are politically-laden, which generally means they are awful, combative, and far from attainable. Teachers have become villains in our country (as I’m sure this thread will shortly attest to) and thus many solutions involve controlling or obstructing them. Again, politics trumps pragmatism.

 

I’ve been a long-standing supporter of performance based pay for teachers on this forum. It is an intuitive solution: It incentivizes better outcomes. But, I think this is only half of the solution, and so far it hasn’t been well thought out or well done. Merit pay has come with much of the mechanical administrative requirements I’m contemptuous of and is inconsistent with the goals of incentivizing performance. If everyone is required to be the same, then how do you perform? And, frankly, I don’t know how to measure it. But, this discussion has been sorely lacking.

 

More broadly, merit pay is intuitive for another reason: it could lure talented individuals into the profession if they believe they can be competitively compensated. But, none of the reforms I’ve seen have aimed to do this. Either the bonus pay is too meager to make much of a difference or the system is based on temperamental evaluations that likely don’t gauge the actual performance well. So, I’m left with believing that there are better solutions.

 

In the Scandinavian countries where education is top-notch it seems that teachers are compensated much better and are given much more independence and autonomy to teach in what they believe to be the most effective manner. This has the effect of luring talented individuals into the field, squeezing the bad out, and letting best-practices flourish. It seems most reforms in the US are the antithesis of this.

[leatherneck]

My general thoughts about the teacher after reading the letter (which I acknowledge is unfair, but his letter is all I've got): he's a 60 something year old history teacher that isn't handling the changes to the educational curriculum based on our changing society. Yes STEM is much more emphasized than a history teacher would like. Well guess what: in today's global and fiercely competitive technology driven economy, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math subjects better be much more emphasized in high school than they were 40 years ago. From what I can tell, STEM subjects are not emphasized near enough in most high schools and more emphasis better be placed on those subjects yet.

 

By the way, there is nothing wrong with teaching to the test if the test measures the material that will help prepare students for college and for those not going to college, jobs in the real world. If the test isn't accurately measuring same, the problem is not "teaching to the test", the problem is that the test is measuring the wrong information.

 

The US is poised to recapture a lot of manufacturing jobs previously shifted overseas. What is the biggest complaint of U.S. manufacturers wanting to bring production back on shore? Lack of qualified skilled workers. Haven't ever heard one manufacturing client complain about their workers not knowing enough history though.

[akw4572]

My general thoughts about the teacher after reading the letter (which I acknowledge is unfair, but his letter is all I've got): he's a 60 something year old history teacher that isn't handling the changes to the educational curriculum based on our changing society. Yes STEM is much more emphasized than a history teacher would like. Well guess what: in today's global and fiercely competitive technology driven economy, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math subjects better be much more emphasized in high school than they were 40 years ago. From what I can tell, STEM subjects are not emphasized near enough in most high schools and more emphasis better be placed on those subjects yet.

 

By the way, there is nothing wrong with teaching to the test if the test measures the material that will help prepare students for college and for those not going to college, jobs in the real world. If the test isn't accurately measuring same, the problem is not "teaching to the test", the problem is that the test is measuring the wrong information.

 

The US is poised to recapture a lot of manufacturing jobs previously shifted overseas. What is the biggest complaint of U.S. manufacturers wanting to bring production back on shore? Lack of qualified skilled workers. Haven't ever heard one manufacturing client complain about their workers not knowing enough history though.

 

It all depends on what kind of job you're looking for really. The skills kids get by reading, analyzing, interpreting, and writing about history are certainly useful in prepping for the ACT, which, in this part of the country serves as the measuring stick for college enrollment. I still think, in a lot of cases, there should be some prep schools for manufacturing/tech jobs, and prep schools for higher education.

[leatherneck]

AKW, I don't disagree at all with your point and would have made it but I thought it was obvious to all. But the undeniable truth is that college is not for everyone. Those that don't go to college basically are relegated to unskilled, lower paying jobs because they are not prepared coming out of high school to fill the skilled manufacturing jobs available. If we cannot provide manufacturers the skilled workers needed, we cannot complain when they shift those jobs off shore. It's that simple.I believe our high schools should be focused much more heavily on STEM subjects. It should be the core of our instruction, while allowing those interested in going to college to have the ability to take college prep courses. Don't forget that more and more college degrees are in disciplines focused on STEM. It's not like we'd be wasting the time of those high school students going on to college by emphasizing STEM subjects in high school.

[75center]

My son is on track to go into teaching high school math. To be perfectly honest I worry about what he's getting in to. I can't imagine my parents having the same fears if I had chosen that path.

[SSC]

AKW, I don't disagree at all with your point and would have made it but I thought it was obvious to all. But the undeniable truth is that college is not for everyone. Those that don't go to college basically are relegated to unskilled, lower paying jobs because they are not prepared coming out of high school to fill the skilled manufacturing jobs available. If we cannot provide manufacturers the skilled workers needed, we cannot complain when they shift those jobs off shore. It's that simple.I believe our high schools should be focused much more heavily on STEM subjects. It should be the core of our instruction, while allowing those interested in going to college to have the ability to take college prep courses. Don't forget that more and more college degrees are in disciplines focused on STEM. It's not like we'd be wasting the time of those high school students going on to college by emphasizing STEM subjects in high school.

 

Couldn't agree more, but I would add that health/PE and nutrition also need to be taught more. Not just for the sake of being prepared for college, but to prepare you for life. At some point the kids need to shift from Ultimate Frisbee to the importance of exercise and nutrition.

[Harry Doyle]

Couldn't agree more, but I would add that health/PE and nutrition also need to be taught more. Not just for the sake of being prepared for college, but to prepare you for life. At some point the kids need to shift from Ultimate Frisbee to the importance of exercise and nutrition.

 

Can I double, triple like this?!

[barrel]

It always gets me when we compare our education system to other countries. We are not playing on a level playing field. Other countries can track and remove students in ways that we cannot. In some of these countries students are identified by middle school age if they will continue on a college course or begin being trainged in more of a vocational training path. So we are comparing our whole to their top part.

[AHSPanther23]

It always gets me when we compare our education system to other countries. We are not playing on a level playing field. Other countries can track and remove students in ways that we cannot. In some of these countries students are identified by middle school age if they will continue on a college course or begin being trainged in more of a vocational training path. So we are comparing our whole to their top part.

 

This is something I never understood why we do not do here. Not every student wants to go to college, so why not expand the vocational part of education? Students need to be placed on some sort of education path that they will succeed in and will help them be successful in life.

[barrel]

We don't do it because in someone's eyes it is not giving every student an equal chance. In other countries they split kids across the board by ability. Past having maybe an honors class or an advanced class we aren't allowed to do it. Other countries treat special education differently than we do.

[ESPNdeux]

This is something I never understood why we do not do here. Not every student wants to go to college, so why not expand the vocational part of education? Students need to be placed on some sort of education path that they will succeed in and will help them be successful in life.

 

Not only are we not expanding our vocational education, but we are decreasing it. We make it seem like not going to college is failure. Which isn't the case at all.