The Oregonian asked six people around the state who are knowledgeable about teacher recruitment and training to read and react to the Paul Hihn-Matt Miller essay on the best-performing educational systems in the world. Their comments:
As Americans, we promote the values of individual expression and achievement to our children, even if at the expense of group harmony or respect for authority. This introduces a precondition on American educators that doesn't necessarily exist for teachers in other cultures -- to be excellent managers of children. The top third of American achievers have choices, and only those who love children enough to want to work with them will choose education as a career.
As a practical step toward improving the depth of talent in public schools, we should target midcareer professionals and reduce the useless barriers to entry they face. For example, I've endured years of coursework to fulfill mandates for a master's degree and "highly qualified" status, but none of these fundamentally improved my teaching abilities. You can spot great teachers from a mile away -- sometimes you just have to catch them at the right time in their lives.
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