It is Time to Stop the Teacher Bashing

The argument that teachers are drawn from the bottom third of the workforce is just the latest version of the old saw: “Those who can, do - those who can't, teach.”  The irony is that those who make this argument understand the importance of quality teaching; but they fail to recognize that their teacher bashing undermines the profession.

In his recent blog post, "Where do Teachers Come From," Merrow demonstrates that teacher bashers base their “bottom third” argument on questionable conventional wisdom, and he encourages them to do the math. So here are some numbers to consider. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports that the nation hired 388,000 new teachers in 2008 (313,000 in public schools plus 76,000 in private schools).  NCES also reports that we had 2.2 million college graduates that year (1.6 million BAs plus 650,000 MAs). This means that to hire only top tier candidates, we would have to hire at least half of the top third of the graduates from every college and university in the country – every year – year after year. The teacher bashers seem to believe that we can somehow induce half of the top tier graduates in the nation to pursue teaching in lieu of other careers, including medicine, law, finance and technology - despite their cynical drumbeat of attacks on educators. 

As Merrow points out, as college graduates, our teachers are already among the best educated of the country’s population. With over 3.6 million in classroom, teaching is the largest profession in the country. To effectively staff our schools we will always draw teachers from a broad cross-section of college graduates – just as most other professions do.  If school reform is to succeed, we need to get serious about recognizing, rewarding, and supporting teaching professionals.

Teaching is the profession that makes all other professions possible. As a nation, we say that we value teachers as the most important factor in the quality of a child’s education. But the way that we treat them sends quite a different message. A key characteristic of the high-performing countries profiled in the McKinsey Report that is cited in this debate is the very high “cultural respect accorded to teaching.” More than any other recruitment policy, the respect we give our teachers will determine the future quality of the profession.  It is time to stop the teacher bashing.