College of Pension Actuaries

In his speech A Call to Teaching, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said, “Put plain and simple, this country needs an army of great teachers…I think that teaching should be one of our most revered professions.”

Sadly, in American society that is demonstrably not the case. Teachers get little consideration. Teaching pays much less than other professions requiring similar levels of preparation. So why WOULD a sane and intelligent person become a teacher?

I ‘wandered’ into the profession, I suppose. While attending graduate school, I got the chance to teach courses at a local college night school program. The money was an effective enticement, to be sure, but WOW – what a heady experience! There I was, two nights a week, showing off what I knew and how well I could plan and deliver a lecture. When I look back, I realize I probably wasn’t a great teacher, but the unshakable certainty of success in me infected my very motivated class, and, by some LUCK, they learned!

I taught in that program for eight years. I did, finally, develop some teaching skill, but, more importantly, I never lost my pure delight in the process!

I had several decades in teaching and curriculum development behind me when I decided to become a High School teacher. Some thoughts I’d had a bit earlier of ‘getting into the system’ plotted together with ‘if not me, then who?’, gave me a SHOVE off that ivory tower, and morphed me into a High School English Teacher.

Hundreds of books and dozens of movies illustrate the grim realities of public education: not enough student motivation, not enough resources of any kind, not enough support from administration, not enough family involvement, not enough respect, not enough time, and not enough energy! It’s all true, I can tell you.