As part of a panel discussion April 7 at George Washington University, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told college professors that he hopes they will promote the profession of teaching among their high-achieving students, the Washington Post reports.
Officials say half the K-12 teachers in classrooms today will be eligible for retirement within 10 years. Mr Duncan noted that incentives for new teachers encourage them to teach in affluent suburbs quite well; the challenge is getting them to teach in neighborhoods where kids need the most help.
“This is a daily fight for social justice,” the Post quoted him as saying. “We have three million teachers in classrooms right now. As the baby boomers retire, we’ll need one million new teachers. … Ninety-nine percent of incentives are for talented folks to move to more affluent neighborhoods. We need to make it a badge of honor — a privilege — to work with kids who need the most help.”
Mr Duncan was participating in a program at GW to recruit teachers, especially the good students in science, technology, engineering, and math. The program is known as TEACH, and the plan is to extend its reach to 21 college campuses. TEACH pairs the Education Department with national education organizations, teacher associations, and corporations like Microsoft and State Farm in working to recruit future educators. Many of these students wouldn’t normally pursue a career as a teacher, and TEACH hopes to change that for more than a few.
Other people pointed out it’ll take a lot more than badges of honor to get the best students teaching in the neediest schools. “We have to figure out how to make this profession a more lucrative one,” the paper quoted Michael Feuer, dean of the university’s graduate school of education, as saying.
But, “if you want a more meaningful life, I can’t think of a better place than education,” Mr Duncan said.