Keeping Teachers We Need

One of the most prominent memories of high school for both my wife and myself, other than the fun extracurricular activities we engaged in, were the poor quality of a number of the teachers we had. We each recall English teachers that were particularly ineffective. Sara will speak at length about her teacher that taught in this fashion: read along in the book while the audio tape plays, and then watch the movie based on the book; take a test; if you don't know the answer on the test, ask the class favorite to ask the teacher, and receive the correct answer as it filters back down from the class favorite; and try not to be on the teacher's bad side, else you'll receive low marks for a work identical to another classmate's (yes, this was tested). I'll regale people with stories of how the Honors English Class in 10th grade was the easiest class in the entire school, where we weekly regurgitated vocabulary words and made stupid little 5 minute speeches that never received anything less than an A; yet in the Regular English Class, students worked their butts off learning the dynamics of grammar, literature, good writing (which, even when exhaustively reviewed by other English teachers, still received a B or a C because it wasn't up to a clearly identifiable objective standard), and good speech skills.

It doesn't come to either of us as any surprise that Wyoming ranked "D" in effective teacher identification and retention, and in ineffective teacher dismissal.

I'm not entirely sure what the problem is, myself. But bad teachers hung around like the stench of a decaying woodchuck (credit Scott Adams for the phrase), and good teachers were few and far between. Average or mediocre teachers were about par. I have no idea if we simply have good teachers available who, due to bureaucracy and low performance standards, chose not to exert themselves because it didn't matter, or if (as we sometimes expect) that our College of Education was simply the last stop for people who couldn't make it in other fields.

I personally tried out our Education department for a year, and eventually I caved because--while I would still love to teach--the crap you have to put up with is excessive. I was particularly disenchanted with the extremely liberal bent of the department, which seemed more interested in coddling the low-end students out of sake of their fragile self-esteem than in actually teaching meaningful material. On the other hand, a visit to our local charter school here in Laramie, the Snowy Range Academy, told me that the militant disciplinary response--which was a matter more of just rote memorization and moving on--wasn't the answer either. But I do think that our College of Education churns out by far more mediocre teachers than even adequate teachers.

Part of the problem, too, is coaching. Perhaps because of Wyoming's low population, and the fact that so many schools need to have teachers doubling up (or even tripling up) on positions, but it seemed that four out of every five teachers were also coaches. And it felt telling that most of the poor teachers (I can think of a few glaring exceptions, but they're exceptions) were coaches. And I suspect that their poor teaching was in part caused by the fact that they were coaching, as well, and thus didn't have the time and energy needed to focus on the classes. That isn't to say that there weren't good teachers who were also coaches. I can think of a couple of those. But the connection is certainly troubling.

Other factors seem to be that Wyoming just doesn't appeal to many people, which is why we remain at the bottom of the totem, barely earning the one representative to the House we have. People complain that there is nothing to do in Wyoming. I suppose when you compare to Colorado or California for the Six Flags and Disney Land parks, Wyoming is lacking in that. But most of the great things to do in Wyoming are of the out-of-doors sort. People tend not to like the hiking so much, though many are okay with the skiing. But if they're going to ski, they'd rather do it in Vale, or somewhere else in Colorado.

Salaries have always been a problem. Why work for $25 K a year when you could work for $40 K a year, even if the cost of living around the $40 K job is $17 K a year higher than in Wyoming? But then, Wyoming offers so many other ares of employment that can easily net one $80 K a year that it is no wonder that many prefer those jobs to teaching.

Yet, I don't think money or location are the biggest problems. I think most teachers bail for the reason I did: the bureaucracy, and the unfriendly environment to those who wish to actually do what needs to be done. Like actually teach and grade and use red ink and discipline students who are out of line. I left in part because I felt like I wouldn't be able to be tough on my students, challenging the smart ones to excel beyond where they were already at, and encouraging or even dragging the slower ones forward. I think that environment needs to change before we throw more money at the problem.

I think it might also help if we change the image of teaching as one of the most vital roles one can play in our nation, as opposed to the crap job you fall back on if you can't make it in other fields.