This week’s cover story by Dusty Rhodes emphasizes one solution to the teacher shortage, but clearly many solutions are needed. The statewide report, “Strong Teachers, Strong Classrooms,” by the Illinois State Board of Education, discusses a decline in prestige for the teaching profession. “My grandmother said she was proud to say her daughter was a teacher,” the report quotes a southern Illinois principal saying. “For my generation, I’m not sure she’d say the same thing.” High school students say they don’t want to consider teaching as a profession because it is “too stressful” and “too big a responsibility.” Many believe teachers are overworked and underpaid. The practical issues can be addressed in practical ways. But also, somehow, young professionals need to be convinced teachers are in a unique position to, from time to time, awaken minds, open doors and change lives. –Fletcher Farrar, editor and CEO
This article appears in Sep 20-26, 2018.
