ED 243 Magazine Project

months so they don’t run out of
money during the summer. They
should also know that many teachers
work another job during the summer
or after school to supplement the
family income. They have to take
courses every year to maintain their
certification; most states require a
costly Master’s Degree to continue
teaching. Many states pay teachers
quite poorly and therefore may not
attract the best-qualified teachers.
Higher pay generally attracts better
candidates.
7) Teaching definitely seems
to be an under-respected
profession in the U.S. What
could be done so teaching
can be seen as a respectable
profession?
This is impractical, but I wish that
people who think teachers have it
easy would spend two weeks as a
teacher. During the first week as a
“student teacher,” they would have to
learn about time management,
especially on the elementary level,
and how they need to assign adequate
amounts of time to the basic subjects,
while giving the other subjects like
art, music, PE, computers, and library
satisfactory attention. During this
week, they should write lesson plans
that they will implement during the
second week. During the second
week, they should teach the class the
lessons they planned, make up tests,
grade them, give extra help after
school, know where to lead the class
during a fire drill or a lock-down,
learn what to do when a child has an
asthma attack or gets hurt on the
playground. In the upper levels, they
need to develop academic skills,
while learning how to handle a child
in the class who might be emotionally
disturbed or oppositional. Most
people who mock and denigrate
teachers have no idea how much
knowledge and skill is required to be
a good teacher.
On a practical level, many states pay
teachers poorly and expect them to
pay out of pocket for materials that
should be supplied by the school
district. If the Federal government
mandates regulations for class sizes
and instructional needs of Special Ed
and ELL students, it also has the
responsibility to fund these mandates.
Finally, parents always set the
example for their children; if they
speak well of teachers, their children
will too.