By B.N. SHAW
Guest Columnist
I believe that there is more to education reform than higher pay for the teachers. It is true that Mississippi has one of the lowest teacher pay scales in the nation, and immediate action is needed to improve the teacher salary.
However, our philosophy of education needs scrutiny if we are really serious about our children's education. Our education has become more test-oriented than learning-oriented. The overemphasis on tests at all levels and for all purposes has prompted the teachers to put more emphasis on their students' ability to perform on the standardized tests than to acquire the knowledge they need to succeed in life.
Although higher teacher pay is fundamental, it alone cannot help reform our public schools. As a teacher and also as a teachers' teacher, I believe that a teacher should know not only what to teach but also how to teach. In addition, more important than what to teach and how to teach to whom to teach - the student. I believe that to know the student has become the least concern of the teachers as well as of the school administrators. I do not blame either the schoolteachers or the school administrators. I blame the directives coming from above, the overemphasis on tests that make the teachers adopt test-oriented teaching, ignoring the basic philosophy and methods of teaching and learning.
As a teacher, I believe that teaching is not only a job, it is a mission. Teachers should have the spirit and enthusiasm of the missionaries to accomplish their mission as educators.
The word education comes from the Greek word "educatio," meaning to draw out. However, instead of trying to draw out what is in the mind of the student, we pour in the mandates of the school administrators. We are paying millions of dollars more to educational consultants today than at any time in the history of American public education. We are having more workshops and seminars today to provide in-service training for our teachers than any time before. However, we argue that we do not have money to increase teacher salaries or even to pay them an annual raise regularly.
The schoolteachers, including my wife who is a schoolteacher in the Jackson city schools, say that most of the in-service training conducted by the consultants is useless. However, they attend these seminars because not only do they get free credit toward the renewal of their teacher certification but they also receive stipends to attend the workshops. Public school teachers complain that they spend more time writing their lesson plans, filling out forms and preparing reports than preparing for teaching.
In the past, teaching was considered to be a respectable and peaceful job. Now the school building or the classroom is no longer a peaceful or safe place. Teaching has become a risky and life-threatening occupation.
Teaching is no longer the most important task. Keeping discipline and maintaining peace are.
I believe that we have to consider all aspects of public school education in order to improve the education of our children. However, the teachers should be encouraged to become more active in the planning and implementation of programs designed to bring the needed reform in the public education systems at the local and state levels.
- Shaw is an associate professor of English at Mississippi Valley State University.
