Blog Post #14

Teaching Can be a Profession by: Joel Klein
Teaching Can be a Profesion

Pick from the best:
Joel Klein states that we have let virtually anyone become teachers and that we need to recruite teachers that are in the top third of their graduating class. Mr. Klein also discusses how we must change the way we award teachers.

Seniority Distraction:
Mr. Klein explains how the schools focus on seniority instead of a highly qualified teachers. This is a problem because there are plenty on incompetent teachers that do not perform as well and still have a job because they have been there the longest.

Radical Change:
Shanker talks about a major change where teachers would have to be evaluated and take exams. He also went as further so children would have a choice of where they wanted to go to school instead of their mandatory school district.

My opinion:
By: Chelsea Powers

Mr. Klein has a very good outlook on what the school systems should do. It would take a lot to make all of these changes. I have to agree that teachers should be awarded based on their performance instead of seniority! I have seen plenty of teachers that are not qualified whatsoever to teach a child at all and then I see a new teacher just out of school that is so much more qualified and she is the one to get fired because she is not "tenyard". I believe all teachers should take some type of exam to make sure they are up to date on all the new technology and ways to help benefit on how our students learn. In order for all this to take place you would have to start from the ground up. In a perfect world I can see this happening but lets face it, we do not live in a perfect world.