Why are teachers considered intellectually inferior?

Great Debates
61

(I was going to post this earlier, but the gerbils at my ISP seem to be sick…)

There are some very real reasons why teachers are considered less intellectual than, say professors, doctors, or business people.

1.) As was mentioned, it is hard to stay current in your subject as a teacher. After you get certified, you spend a large chunk of your time staying current in your field (teaching). Sadly, this is somewhat counterproductive in that much of the “current” research in education turns out to be bunk.

2.) There are people who tried to become _______, and couldn’t do it. These people take up teaching as a “fall-back career.” (My father, for instance, got his masters before his PhD just so he could teach in case he didn’t do well in his doctoral program.)

3.) Very often, those who go into teaching who are considered more intelligent are pushed up and out. (i.e. into Administration or Teacher Education) Very often, the pay and/or benefits are better than those for a classroom teacher. The economic incentive is to not stay in the classroom.*

4.) There are some teachers who know the system well enough to be in at 7:30 and out by 2:30, with nothing to take home. These folks come from all subjects; most other teachers tend to view this as scamming the system.

5.) It is certainly true that the knowledge set you need to have in your subject does not need to be as large as the set held by people “in the field.” What most people fail to remember is that you must have a complimentary knowledge set in educational methods. As has been noted, there are some professors who are whip-smart, but cannot communicate effectively in a classroom. A good teacher needs to be able to communicate effectively with students of all different learning styles. (Although, you may remember my rant from another thread about the utter uselessness of requiring teachers to be able to do this to the degree that our system does.)
OTOH, the dicotomy of the views many people have about teaching is really funny. I hear “yeah, but you guys get summers off” or “those who can…” fairly often. My response (which is surprisingly effective) is “you know, there is a shortage of teachers. In fact, in math, science, or foreign language, you have a good chance of being hired with no certification. If you like the benefits of being a teacher, why don’t you become one?” It is absolutely amazing how many people immediately back pedal. “I could never teach; I’d kill the little bastards!” (usually said by a parent, btw…) or “No way could I teach 3/4/5 different subjects in one day.” (usually said by those in higher education) or “I could never give 5 presentations in one day.” (usually said by those in business; and I correct them: it’s five presentations every day…)

*Personal anecdote, very similar to what LHoD said:
I get asked “Why are you teaching?” all the time, for all different reasons. By everyone. Not just by “regular people,” but by my colleagues and bosses, as well. There is a very common sentiment that teachers who are “more academically inclined” do not stay teaching.

62

msmith537, let me turn this around on you. You asked " how intellectually stimulated can you get from teaching the same 8th grade history to 8th graders year in and year out?"

Here is the Standard Course of Study for North Carolina 8th grade Social Studies. Take a look at its nine goals. Find the three that would be most difficult for you (I’ll allow you to substitute your own state for one of the ones mentioned). Design a lesson plan for a single hourlong class that will help achieve one of your three difficult learning goals: it must motivate the students to learn, provide them with the opportunities to learn, build upon their previous learning, and evaluate their learning, as the bare minimum. Here’s a format that you can use for your lesson plan.

Now imagine doing that for 180 lessons.

Now imagine doing that for more than one class.

Now imagine memorizing the plans for each class sufficiently to teach them, and to modify them on the fly when it becomes clear that something isn’t working.

If you think this is easy work, not intellectually challenging, you’re way off base. It’s possible to do it poorly, just as it’s possible to be a crappy lawyer or a crappy journalist. But doing it well? That’s very hard work.

Yes, you can use other folks’ lesson plans. You’re very likely to need to perform some small revisions for any one you use, based on your personal style, the needs of your students, the resources you have at hand, etc. Yes, you can reuse your lesson plans from previous years. You’re very likely to need to change things that didn’t work well, to update aspects that are outdated by world events or changing SCOS requirements; and unless you’re a crappy teacher, you’ll always be wanting to find new, exciting, better ways of teaching your material.

There are lousy teachers out there, make no mistake. But the potential for good teachers is enormous, and a motivated teacher can be absorbed intellectually by the profession, no matter how genius she is.

My ideal would be for the profession’s entry requirements, prestige, and autonomy to increase to the point that the lousy teachers no longer find it a welcoming atmosphere for them, and the geniuses who are going into other professions find it an ideal environment.

Daniel

63

When I entered the profession in 1969, we were required to pass the National Teachers’ Exam. That standard was dropped a couple of years later in our school system. I don’t know if the test exists now.

I was voluntarily retested in the 1980’s and received an annual bonus because of my score. It would please me if passing scores on both of these tests were required – the first for entry into the profession and the second before receiving tenure.

There are teachers and administrators in the system who should not have high school diplomas themselves. There are also brilliant people in the classroom who don’t know the first thing about educating a child.

<snip>

I was never in front of classes less than five hours a day. That did not include planning, conferences, after school tutoring, meetings, filling out forms, grading, research, professional development, summer classes, workshops, ordering supplies, absentee reports, making bulletin boards, writing to parents, sponsoring clubs, attending forensic meets, coaching, selling tickets at the football games, fund-raising, chaperoning, field trips, arranging for guest speakers, inservice days, planning special programs, serving as a faculty representative to various organizations, and working on special assignments, projects and committees assigned by the administration.

I did not have on-the-job access to a computer, a typewriter, a xerox machine or, for fifteen years, an air-conditioner. I taught in the South.

I’m uncertain about what you mean by “fringe,” but contemplation of human understanding is the basis of teaching.

As for “Those who can’t do, teach”: Teaching is the doing..

Those of you who have contributed to this thread who didn’t learn from teachers, say Aye.

64

I have no doubt that it’s hard work. But I don’t think it’s work you have to be particularly brilliant at. I suppose the same is true for most jobs. You don’t really need to be a rocket scientist to do what I do. You just have to have a high tolerance for a lot of corporate bullshit and be willing to work 70 hour weeks when asked to do so.

It seems to me that there is a great deal more prestige when you teach in a private school vs a public school. Of course a private school is not bound by the constraints of a government budget. They can be choosy about who they admit as students.

I guess the perception (and you can probably blame the media for this) is that teaching is not a career for ambitious, motivated people. Teachers are portrayed as either well-meaning idealists (like Michele Phifer or Morgan Freeman in those movies or as in Boston Public), cynical, bitter and bored (like Edna Crabapple) or as failures in other professions (the dude from Sideways). Most of the teachers I know personally tend to be just regular people. They were unremarkable students from decent but not extraordinary schools and don’t care about traveling or working in a big city or dealing with executives.

Unfortunately we as a society have come to correlate wealth and ambition with intelligence. That is not always the case. There are plenty of stockbrokers who are millionares but as dumb as a brick.

It might be more accurate to say that teachers aren’t any more or less intelligent than the rest of us. They are just willing to settle for a more relaxed and less flashy lifestyle to do something they care about.

65

Perhaps, but it is work in which brilliance is applicable. The smarter you are, the better you’re going to be at various aspects of the job. Vice versa, unfortunately, also holds.

Daniel

66

[quote]
msmith537: I guess the perception (and you can probably blame the media for this) is that teaching is not a career for ambitious, motivated people. Teachers are portrayed as either well-meaning idealists (like Michele Phifer or Morgan Freeman in those movies or as in Boston Public), cynical, bitter and bored (like Edna Crabapple) or as failures in other professions (the dude from Sideways). Most of the teachers I know personally tend to be just regular people. They were unremarkable students from decent but not extraordinary schools and don’t care about traveling or working in a big city or dealing with executives.

Those well-meaning idealists are highly motivated. Most have to adjust quite a bit to the realities of the classroom. The biggest shock to me was how little uninterrupted teaching time I would have.

Most of the teachers that I know are indeed “just regular people,” but they all have college degrees and a large percentage have advanced degrees. (Continuing your education is usually required for renewal of your certification.) Some were remarkable students and some went to extraordinary schools. Others fit your description. Both big cities and rural areas have teachers and every school system has executives. Some of the suits are cool and some are not.

I am truly amazed that you say that teachers don’t care about travelling. That is one of the benefits of having some time off in the summer and at Christmas. Most of the teachers that I know have taken full advantage of it when they don’t have to work or attend school. There are often special study programs for travelling teachers. Even the first trans-Atlantic flight that I took was for teachers only.

Because we are “regular people,” we are a mixed lot and defy too much stereotyping other than the general standards we have to meet.

67

Teachers in an elementary or secondary setting are often considered the lowest rung type jobs. If you really wanted to work in literature you would write, become an editor, or work as a professor. I don’t agree with this theory, but have found it is very prevelant.

68

OK, a couple of observations. (So, no cites, sorry.)

First of all- when I was in college, I saw some of the materials and homework of my dormmates majoring in Elementary Ed. Man, did that look easy! I have always thought that the college work didn’t do enough to weed out the boneheads, and didn’t give enough info and experience to the best and the brightest.

Secondly–I really found out about the art of teaching when I signed my kid up for an after-school program in first grade–taught by a mom, not a teacher–to learn Spanish. After an entire semester, the kid knew (I am not exaggerating) “hola” and “uno, dos, treis.” That’s it. (He didn’t even know how to say “no” in Spanish. Hint: it’s “no.”) When I pulled him from the program, the secretary said, “But that lady speaks FLUENT Spanish, she MUST be a good teacher.” Hm. Sure, give barely literate kids worksheets to do, and don’t ever make them speak. She knew her core subject inside out, but had no idea how to teach or what level of work was appropriate for a given age. It really is hard, and it really is an art unto itself.

Both my son and I have had fantastic teachers and boneheaded losers…I wouldn’t judge a person’s intelligence either way by learning that the person taught for a living. However, anyone who is still teaching K-12 after 5 years has the patience of a saint.

69

The Woody Allen version went something like, “There’s an old saying that those who can’t do teach, and those who can’t teach, teach gym. Those who couldn’t do anything taught at my school.”

70

From Annie Hall,

“I remember the staff at our public school. You know, we had a saying, uh, that those who can’t do teach, and those who can’t teach, teach gym. And, uh, those who couldn’t do anything, I think, were assigned to our school.”

71

What I mean to say is that they have regular ambitions. Do well at work. Raise a family. Modest house in a nice neighborhood. They don’t have like Wall Street or Dot Com ambitions of making fortunes or jet-seting around the world first class.

72

Me too. I’m not at all good at rote memorization, but I always kicked butt in Trivial Pursuit.