Search Institute

I had the privilege of guest lecturing yesterday in a psych class at Macalester College here in St. Paul, MN. What a joy to spend time with students who have self-selected their college, their major, and are paying handsomely for their experiences. Talk about a well-versed and focused group of people!

There were no real parameters on our discussion, but we ended up mostly covering education policy issues and more general questions about society and education.

They had just gotten done reading this article titled What Is the Problem? The Challenge of Providing Effective Teachers for All Children

In the article the writers posit the following:

Perhaps the most urgent problem facing American education, say Murnane and Steele, is the unequal distribution of high-quality teachers. Poor children and children of color are disproportionately assigned to teachers with the least preparation and the weakest academic backgrounds. Teacher turnover is high in schools that serve large shares of poor or nonwhite students because the work is difficult, and the teachers who undertake it are often the least equipped to succeed.

In response to this article, I asked this group of 25 bright, talented, college educated students the following questions:

How many of you are going to become teachers? (2)

How many of you have considered it and have chosen not to? (about 10)

Finally, what’s turning you off to becoming a teacher and what would it take to get you to teach?

Their responses were fantastic. Here’s a sampling:

• I don’t want be “just a teacher.”


• Lack of freedom to teach controversial content.


• Low salaries.


• Doesn’t sound like fun.

These were all valid responses, of course. We also discussed the fact that schools don’t sound like very fun places to work. So while getting wrapped up in policy issues, we were all reminded that the very types of people who could (or should) become teachers simply weren’t attracted to the profession.

As I listen to the debate about education reform and how to attract quality teachers, I simply do not hear enough (or any) about how to make schools good places to work. These young people who we desperately need to attract just are not drawn toward schools as a place that looks satisfying.

I’ll post some more about this next week. But as you read the news and follow the national conversation, pay attention to how little the work conditions for educators is discussed. Seems like a massive disconnect to me.