In the spring of 1992, the not-yet-Solipsist reached a decision: He was going to start teaching. This decision was not some response to a noble calling; indeed, it was something of an admission of defeat. At the time, we were hustling daily from one end of Manhattan to another, shuttling among three different part-time jobs, all to scrape together enough money to pay half the rent on a one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. We were also taking night classes towards our masters, which we would finish the following fall. The plan had always been to complete the masters degree before beginning our teaching career, but we were, frankly, tired of the daily scramble and wanted the security and relative simplicity of a single full-time job. So one lovely morning, we made our way to the Board of Education's hiring hall.
Theoretically, we were more than ready. In New York, at the time, all one needed to begin teaching was a bachelor's degree. Other requirements had to be satisfied within a short timeframe, but we had actually completed most of them: We had taken all required education classes; we had passed our licensing exams in both general pedagogy and subject area; we had displayed a pulse. The only thing lacking was the masters degree, but, as mentioned, we would complete that within a few months. The Board of Ed was all too happy to grab us up and assign us to a junior high school on East New York.
As it happened, we received another job offer and avoided that particular teaching assignment. All for the best, really, because here's the thing: While we were, on paper, more-than-qualified to stand in front of a classroom of hormone-crazed seventh-graders and explain the finer points of English grammar and the symbolism of Steinbeck's The Pearl, had we actually tried it, we have no doubt the results would have been disastrous. We were not ready to teach: How could we be? The only experience we had was tutoring college students and one semester of student-teaching, under the supervision of an experienced instructor. And the scary thing is, we probably had more experience than some other people who would begin teaching that September.
It occured to us, while watching "Waiting for Superman" and listening to its laments about the horrendous teachers being protected by union intransigence, that one of the major problems with teaching in the United States is its relatively low barriers to entry. Think about teaching in comparison to other white-collar professions: Prospective doctors have to go through college, be accepted to medical school, stay there for four years, then go through an internship (two years?) before finally being allowed to treat patients on their own. Prospective lawyers have to go through a similar undergraduate program, be accepted into law school and pass the bar exam. Because these people overcome such well-known obstacles, society rewards them with respected titles and at least the possibility of high earnings from a fairly early stage in their careers. To be a teacher, though, you generally just need a bachelors' degree and a satisfactory score on a (fairly simple) licensing exam. Is it any wonder people question our abilities?
We unequivocally support teachers' unions. We would like to propose a grand bargain that would allow unions to continue their mission of protecting teachers while at the same time improving education for all. Teachers should continue to receive tenure to protect them from administrative whims. However, teachers, like other professionals, should receive extensive training and supervision before receiving this tenure. We would advocate that teachers, like doctors, should spend the first two or three years of their careers as interns, mentored closely by experienced teachers. They might then serve a kind of residency, before finally being hired on as "full" teachers--and only at that point, when they have proven themselves to be qualified, would they receive full union rights and protections.
Onerous? Sure. Why would anyone put themselves through this? Same reason people decide to be teachers now: They feel a sense of mission, they like working with kids, they want to make a difference in people's lives, they want a sense of job security. If prospective teachers had to go through greater requirements to secure their positions, they might even be afforded the same prestige that society now affords to doctors and lawyers. Well, doctors anyway. This would also minimize the likelihood of an incompetent teacher being allowed to hang around long enough to reach an "unfirable" position. Everybody wins.
Oh, one more thing: You need to pay teachers like doctors and lawyers, too.
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