60 Million Teachers

My thoughts and reactions to this article:  http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic648757.files/WhereAre60MillionTeachers_Reimers1996pp469-492.pdf

After being swept away by Delors’ poetic descriptions of necessary utopia, this piece painted a more harsh and bleak portrait of the plights of teachers around the world.  Most of the main points in the article we reiterations of things we as educators talk about all the time, in particular the need for better teacher training and preparation.  At first glance, this article seemed to be a lot of the "same old thing".

For me, I have two initial reactions.  The first is that it is time for teachers themselves to stand up and be involved in the discussion.  I realize that this comes from a privileged outlook: I live in a place and time where I can speak my mind and have the luxury of time to be involved in such efforts.  Still, in my own context I find that many of us as passive complainers (and rightly so, many of us are so overloaded we don’t have time for much else!).  But if we want a better future for ourselves as educators, we need to be proactive in forging that reality for ourselves.  More educators need to BE policy makers (not just involved in dialogues with them), and more of us (myself included) need to more involved and proactive about getting our voices heard.  The future we desire is ours for the making, and we need not wait for the folks “in charge” to come to us.  I know this point of view has received lots of criticism because teachers’ jobs are hard enough without adding this to our plates.  But I still maintain that we are our own best advocates and that (successful!) change and reform ultimately rest in our own hands. 

Secondly, I feel like these changes all need to take place within a larger cultural and social shift.  The article addresses this in a nice way when it says, “A society can only have an education system as good as it can imagine it” (p 483).  When education becomes a priority for a society, I think many of the problems teachers face find solutions.  How do we inspire the next generation of teachers, as well as place the necessary focus and attention on the importance of education and teaching?  How do we promote the cultural shift that places greater value on education?  I do not know the answer to these questions. But I do think that we, the educators and administrators in the field, need to play a larger role and take more responsibility in this area.

#JHUglobaled