Anyone who has attempted to fly commercially recently has noticed that there is a shortage of pilots and flight crews resulting in cancelled flights and passenger frustration. Pilots cannot fly without being trained and licensed. Yet no one has suggested the lowering of standards and licensing to get more pilots into cockpits..
The nation faces similar shortages in education. A growing number of governors and state legislatures (Minnesota, Illinois, Arizona, Utah, Kansas, Oklahoma, North Carolina, California) has suggested lowering standards. I am reminded of the 1968 Jerry Lewis film, “Don’t Raise the Bridge, Lower The Water”. It appears that governors are willing to sacrifice today’s children in order meet today’s needs. What will be the price we pay in the future with inadequately trained engineers, doctors, scientists, teachers, and adults?
What has caused the problem in education?
- Low salaries
- Poor working conditions
- Administrators who have the capacity but lack desire to address problems
- Lack of respect
- Difficult parents
- Unfocused school boards
- Lack of desire to address problems
- Disruptive students
- Inadequate supplies like computers
- Antiquated buildings (lacking electrical connections to the internet)
- Unfocused legislatures and governors
- Single-parent homes led by women who must first take care of their own children.
- Schools of education turning out fewer educators
- Cost of colleges and university
- Difficulty of training people in specific educational fields (Special Education, science, Math, foreign language)
- Untrained substitute teachers
Governors and state legislatures are choosing to balance today’s needs versus tomorrow’s future.
Not only does this put today’s children at risk but it puts inadequately trained individuals who may lack the dispositional characteristics to teach successfully and who may lack an understanding of how students learn successfully up for failure. Individuals may lack the disposition to deal with a group of boisterous children.
Schools with less experienced teachers are more likely to be in poorer neighborhoods and children of color. Many of the shortages exist in schools of poorer neighborhoods with minority students.
Industry knows how to fix this problem. When they have a difficult time attracting employees, they end up raising wages to attract talent. It appears that the simple solution is to raise salaries so that they match the salaries of people entering equivalent fields with similar requirements.
The question is, is this fair to today’s students, or the nation’s future?