The Way: Gomez on affordable housing, Gallia on the Way, Hester on School Choice
PLUS: a new cartoon from Jennifer Schuberth and John Urang.
We want to improve Oregon’s civic culture. Will you lend us a hand?
We need your support. Our editor is headed for “bigger” pastures (aka Big Sky country in Montana to clerk for the State Supreme Court). Help us sustain our momentum.
If you believe in our mission to improve Oregon’s civic culture, then we need you to take one of four steps:
Volunteer — join our editing team. Email kfraz@berkeley.edu
Share — send this post to five friends and ask them to subscribe
Start a paid submission — visit this link to do so
Editor’s Note:
My cousin is a teacher in Massachusetts. She equates the past two years of trying to manage remote education, monitor masks, and mollify parents to standing in the middle of the worst nor’easter she’s ever encountered.
Battered from all sides. No refuge in sight. Fatigued and frustrated.
If you’re a teacher or you have an educator in your life, I’m sure you’ve heard the same.
There’s a lot of politics going on in schools right now but the fact of the matter is our system is fundamentally broken. It’s unlikely that anyone thinks of the current scramble to hire substitute teachers as an indicator of things going well. Regardless of what curriculum you think is best or what vaccination policy should be enforced, you’ve got to admit that the status quo isn’t working.
Rather than perceiving teaching as just another profession, we need to put it on a pedestal. Teachers can transform lives and entire communities. I know you’ve met educators with this power. For me, it was Ms. Karakas. I was a trainwreck of a high schooler before she put me on a proper course. Tapping into that transformational power — finding those best suited to unlock the potential of our children — is a major feat in the current system.
Teachers in Finland come from the top 10 percent of the nation’s Masters of Education graduates. You’re thinking…oh gosh, another random stat from a Scandinavian country…that’s fair. I’m not saying that Finland has the perfect model but we should at least be learning from what’s working in other states and countries. If we want the best students to go on to become the best teachers, then we have to lure them away from other professions.
Money tends to attract the brightest students into entering the field and staying in it.
Here’s data outlining the starting pay for primary and early childhood teachers for each of the 35 countries within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The US ranks ninth (see the filled in blue dot). Norway, Spain, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, and Luxembourg all pay their teachers a higher starting salary. Those same nine countries all outperform the US on several indicators of academic achievement, such as math scores on the PISA exam.
Here’s the stats on Oregon via the NEA:
How many people do you think would go to law school if the average salary was $38,000? I guess very few. (For those wondering, the starting salary at a “Big” law firm is north of $200,000).
If doctors made less than $40,000 a year, do you think students would be rushing to take biochem during undergrad? The odds are low.
There’s no one-to-one correlation between paying teachers more and students realizing more of their potential. But I know I’m not the only one lamenting the fact that our teachers feel like they're sacrificing financially and emotionally to do our kids (and the rest of us) a public service.
We’ve turned teachers into guidance counselors, made them a part of our Geek Squad, asked them to implement conflicting and confusing and changing and controversial policies, and settled for paying them less than 33 other states.
I’m not going to claim to have all the answers to fixing our education system. But one lesson from this pandemic has to be that we need more highly-qualified, young graduates to become the teachers of our youngsters.
As we reimagine our education system (as we should), regarding teaching as the profession it is and paying teachers accordingly is one place to start.
Here’s to a better Oregon,
Kevin
To look forward to:
Our #GovernorGoals series. Learn more about how you can help shape the future of our state here.
Sarah Iannarone on ways to improve traffic safety.
Andrew Kalloch joins our #GovernorGoals series on affordable housing.
Patrick Starnes and Jared Garson offer their suggestions on how to reform Oregon’s campaign finance system.
To interpret:
To read:
Jessica Gomez adds her perspective to our #GovernorGoals series on affordable housing.
Read more here.
Mark Hester discusses school choice amid another chaotic school year.
Read more here.
Rob Harris describes what’s led to a short of public defenders and the injustices that result.
Read more here.
Charles Gallia discusses the importance of keeping politics local or, at a minimum, not too national.
Read more here.
To do:
Read the latest version of the Liftoff
Share The Oregon Way with three friends
Join our editorial team or nominate someone to join
Tell us how we can improve!
Photo credit: "Dillon Falls to Aspen Meadow" by J K Amero is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0