USA Today announced the best teachers in America today. Full disclosure: my high school Latin teacher, Mr. Tylinski, was honorably mentioned. I know from observing him the hours upon hours these teachers commit to their students. The students, perhaps, are like parishoners a pastor dedicates his life to helping. Education may not be salvation, but I wonder whether religion or religious beliefs motivate teachers to work so hard for so little reward.
More on this later, but I am not sure that nothing succeeds like success. How many of us have known a teacher whose commitment to his own and his students' excellence has only infuriated his colleagues, students, and administrators? I imagine many of them disdain how high these saints set the bar of excellence. Of course, we often are those disdainers. How often do we applaud when others challenge us to be better people, especially when better people means dedicating our lives to helping others?
Comments (2)
I found the letter to which I was referring. Since I do not know how to link it I am reproducing it here.
NYT Oct 6, 2007 p A18
To the Editor:
It is naïve to think that a first step on the path to radical improvement is to identify good teachers and weed out poor ones. This step can come only after the real first step: recruit a better pool of potential teachers, and then keep good teachers teaching. This will not happen, however, until teachers are better paid and more respected.
Why do we revere the college professor but spurn the high school teacher? After all, teaching in a public school typically requires a master's degree and state certification. Yet it is hard to think of another profession more maligned and poorly compensated. No wonder so few people are signing up.
We should double teachers' salaries for a start. The pool of potential teachers would expand exponentially. And only then can we afford to be fastidious about who teaches our children.
The reality is that teaching well is as difficult as teaching poorly is easy.
Justin Snider
New York, Oct. 2, 2007
The writer is a research assistant at the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Again, thanks to the teachers who behave like saints.
Posted October 26, 2007 10:34 AM
Posted on October 26, 2007 10:34
Your reflection is an interesting one. Many Latin teachers, in particular, come from a Catholic school education (I guess because Latin was used in the Mass). I once had a friend who told me she became a nun because she wanted a way to help the world. Later she left being a nun (what ever that is called) and joined the peace corps. Being a teacher is another way to help. In a recent letter in either the WSJ or Times (maybe I can look it up and find it) a writer from a Columbia University center for education reform asked why college professors are so revered and high school teachers held in such low regard. He called for the doubling of highschool teacher salaries. It may be a long time before we see that happen but at least we can say "thank you" to those who chose to teach in order to help. Thank you Mr. Tylinski and all the other Mr. Tylinskis out there.
Posted October 19, 2007 10:47 AM
Posted on October 19, 2007 10:47