It took me a long time to realize that my dozen years in the classroom had completed my conversion from the wide-eyed 43-year-old innocent I was when I stepped in front of my first group of middle school students to the decaying fossil, a symbol of the erosion of public schools, that I am today.
I don't know whether it should be set at eight years, or six, or maybe even four, but of one thing I am thoroughly convinced -- the time for teacher term limits is now.
Tenure, heaven forbid, the last thing this nation needs is to foist teachers upon unsuspecting children for decades then allow them to receive golden parachutes when they finally decide to call it a day.
Perhaps it was Teach for America that convinced me how absurd the current system is. What a novel concept -- six weeks of rigorous training and young, eager twenty-somethings, bathed in idealism, with the idea that they can make a difference in children's lives, find themselves in a classroom.
Of course that has to be a better system than having someone study for years to take a low-paying job (in comparison to other professionals). The old-timers also entered the teaching profession because they wanted to make a difference in children's lives, but look what it got them.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
The time for term limits for teachers is now
In my latest Huffington Post blog, I express my view that it is time for teachers to have term limits:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I'm sorry you feel that way, but you're completely wrong. Term limits would force out seasoned professionals as well as burnouts -- and wouldn't really change anything except that teachers would move around more, degrading institutional memory and continuity of contact.
Burnout is a function of underfunding the requirements of the job as it currently stands. We need better funding, more teachers, even more administrators, better buildings and more careful consideration and shared knowledge of the way in which we teach.
Sabbatical years, continuing education: those we need. Tenure may or may not be useful at the primary/secondary level, but term limits? Absurd.
Read the entire article on Huffington Post.
Oh, satire.
Just wait: within a year or two someone will propose this for real.
You have the remarkable ability to error on the side of stupidity.
Please outline the process that would be necessary for the Joplin Schools to get rid of you. This would be an eye opener, hopefully, and educate people on how a teacher may be removed from the payroll.
Oh goodness... you've just given Jane Cunningham something to introduce to the state legislature next session!
Post a Comment