Wednesday, September 26, 2007
09/26/7, educational degrees
After class today I began to think about what education is. I think it is dlirectly correlated to the quality of life. People go to school and gain an education to improve their quality. It is presumed that the more schooling one gets and the more degrees one obtains, the higher the quality of life they will have. I do believe this is true in most cases. There are exceptions to every rule. There are people who get these degrees and go nowhere with it, there are also those who don't even go to college and make millions of dollars a year. Education does provide a step towards a better life. Teachers are necessities in these steps. Without them, there would be no education. Teachers go through all this schooling, obtaining these degrees, and are still looked down upon for not holding prestigious positions and for getting low pay. Additionally, it has been said that education is unequal because teachers qualifications are unequal. http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-04-26-teachers-poor_x.htm This article discusses how teachers in wealthier school districts are more qualified than teachers in poorer districts. However, is it really the teachers background? Personality and persistance are two qualities in a teacher which are often overlooked. The teaching fellowship program sends adults straight out of college to teach in inner city schools, but these teachers are young and they have passion. They may not know every detail which is in the textbook, but they know how to encourage kids to want an education, to strive for an education. In the end, does that one degree, that one piece of paper, really make a difference?
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4 comments:
I definitely agree with you that many people do engage in education in hopes of improving their life style. This may consist of improving life both intellectually and economically. Unfortunately it seems as though our society does tend to favor and emphasize financial gains over intellectual satisfaction. I am going to school because I am working toward becoming a special education teacher.I absolutely adore children, they always seems to make my day, especially when I am able to make their day, or just simple put a smile on their face. It really bothers me that people do look down on individuals who wish to become a teacher, because as you stated, teachers really are the backbone of of society. Without teachers our society would more chaotic than it is. My dad has always looked down on me for wanting to become a teacher, especially a special education teacher. He doesn't see why I want to "waste my time on them". Hearing him say that really pisses me off. EVERY child deserves to have the opportunity to learn to the best of their abilities, and it kills me inside to know people think otherwise. I want a job that is rewarding and teaching children is definitely personally rewarding. Money does not even begin to compare to the positive feelings brought upon by helping children intellectually and emotionally develop.
I think that it how much money a district has has nothing to do with he quality of the teachers. It all comes down to who you know, not what you know. If you know someone that had a high position in a district you have a much higher chance of getting higher than someone that knows no one from the school. Having a degree from a prestigious college may look good, but if you don't know anyone that is even going to care you have that degree, you are not going to get very far without a LOT of perseverance.
I think you make a very an extremely important point when you state, "In the end, does that one degree, that one piece of paper, really make a difference?" As I have mentioned my mom works in special education at our high school. She's been there since 2005 and although she is only a teacher's assistant she has gained so much knowledge from working with the students and the teachers. She gets so frustrated when substitute teachers come in that sometimes have absolutely no teaching experience, they are simply just put on a list to be called. Although she is not in the job solely for the money she feels that she could/should be the substitute when the normal teacher isn't there since she knows the kids, the daily activities and how the classroom is suppposed to be run. She has told me so many stories about young women and men who come in, bring their newspaper and sit there all day, sometimes leaving early, while she gets paid probably half as much to do all the work. She has been considering going back to school to get her teaching degree because the way the contacts work she is not able to substitute, even though some of them don't have teaching degrees, which seems crazy. So in my mind I completely agree, what is this piece of paper? Not that I don't believe education isn't important and that a degree doesn't matter but shouldn't experience count for something too?
http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/edweek/staiv.htm
Here is another link to an article, sorry for the mess up!
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