“When the cold front of demographics meets the warm front of
unrealized dreams, the result will be a thunderstorm of purpose the likes of
which the world has never seen,” says Daniel Pink in his book Drive of the possibilities that arise as
Baby Boomers retire. Boomers were on the whole very educated and successful—a
generation who experienced great opportunities and sweeping changes in this
country. Now, as they reach retirement, many Boomers are looking for what to do
next; and as Elizabeth Olson’s recent New
York Times article shows, teaching is a popular choice. Retired scientists and engineers are
reinventing themselves as high school math teachers. On the surface, this might
just seem like a feel-good story about retirees “giving back,” but as NCTAF has
documented (click here
for our “Did You Know?” video about America’s aging educators), we need to find
ways of leveraging the Boomer generations talents and experience if we’re going
to transform education.
Though there are some retirees, like those mentioned in this
article, who have the time and desire to go through the teacher certification
to become a teacher. However, NCTAF understands the need to find alternative ways
to bring Boomers from a variety of professions (including retired educators)
into the schools in an organized and sustainable way that will have real impact
on student learning.
NCTAF is beginning this work more in our STEM Learning
Studios, which put STEM teachers in middle and high schools in teams with
practicing scientists, content specialists, and retired teachers. These teams
work develop hands-on, interdisciplinary projects that address real-world
problems to make STEM subjects come alive for students. As this project both
expands and deepens, we are securing more partnerships with business,
government, and institutions of higher education to build out a volunteer corps
of retirees, who be able to give back in ways that are realistic in terms of time
commitment but that really matter for students and teachers.
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