Thomas Friedman on education: 'There is no secret'

It's absolutely true.

And the ones who do stay in teaching bail on their low-income school and head to wealthier areas.

If you think there is an army of 22-year-old hotshots and burned out corporate law firm partners who want to make a career out of teaching in the ghetto, but just can't bust through the picket line to do so, then you are using drugs a lot stronger than espresso.

 

Question for the actual sports writers on the board: How many of you got $30k a year right after you finished college?

 

The kid at Target doesn't make $30,000. He/she probably doesn't have a BA. If they suck at their job, they'll get fired. And, their pay won't just go up, according to a union pay scale, regardless of how good they are at their job, just because they've accrued years of service.

Some would like to. There are plenty of people looking to change careers, either for a better lifestyle, or because they've already made their money.

The female lawyer, or investment banker, who married a colleague, and now has children, isn't dependent on her law firm or banking income. A teaching job would meet her schedule, allow her to use her degree/brain/experience, and stay engaged in the workforce.


And, the teaching industry will do everything possible to prevent her from joining their ranks.

 

I'm being obtuse, but to be clear, the problems with public education in America are as follows:

(1) The standards are not high enough, even for teachers who are capable of teaching to high standards;
(2) Bad students become bad teachers;



































































































(1,045) Tom Joad.

 

YF, I think you're barking up the wrong tree here.

 

You're on drugs.

 

I got $10/hour - $20,800/year. It was 1999.

Why?

 

Dick, you're right that not many highly educated 22-year-olds want to teach.

Part of the problem is that if you don't become a teacher at 22 (and decide to pursue an education degree prior to that), it's very hard to transition into it.

How old were you when you decided to pursue a law career?

If you had decided at the same age that you wanted to become a teacher, what's the likelihood you would be employed as a teacher today?

 

It's ridiculously high, approaching 100%.

 

Which part?

 

Way better than the likelihood that I'd be employed as a lawyer. (Which I won't be very long if I don't exit stage right here pretty soon and start doing some billing today.)

 

The implication that there's this great mass of potentially great teachers who are barred from entering the teaching profession by teachers' unions. I might (note my choice of that word "might") have bones to pick with teachers unions, but their erecting substantive barriers to entry is not among them.