Remembering 9/11 While Critiquing Our
Current Political and Social Climate

On Saturday, September 11, 2021 I spent most of the day listening to the speeches and programs surrounding the events of 9/11. One of the most interesting speeches and I might add powerful speeches was given by former Pres. George Bush at the 9/11 Memorial Cemetery in Pennsylvania. I want to share part of the speech with you.

                                        image retrieved from cnn.com on September 20, 2021

Pres. George Bush:

In those fateful hours, we learned other lessons as well. We saw that Americans were vulnerable, but not fragile. That they possessed a core of strength that survives the worst that life can bring. We learned that bravery is more common than we imagine, emerging with sudden splendor in the face of death. We vividly felt how every hour with our loved ones was a temporary and holy gift. And we found that even the longest days end.

Many of us have tried to make spiritual sense of these events. There is no simple explanation for the mix of Providence and human will that sets the direction of our lives. But comfort can come from a different sort of knowledge. After wandering in the dark, many have found they were actually walking step-by-step toward grace.

As a nation, our adjustments have been profound. Many Americans struggle to understand why an enemy would hate us with such zeal. The security measures incorporated into our lives are both sources of comfort and reminders of our vulnerability. And we have seen growing evidence that the dangers to our country can come not only across borders but from violence that gathers within.

There’s little cultural overlap between violent extremist abroad and violent extremist at home. But in their disdain for pluralism, and their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit, and it is our continuing duty to confront them.

In the weeks and months following the 9/11 attacks, I was proud to lead an amazing, resilient united people. When it comes to the unity of American people, those days seem distant from our own. Malign force seems at work in our common life that turns every disagreement into an argument and every argument into a clash of cultures. So much of our politics has become a negative appeal to anger, fear and resentment. That leaves us worried about solutions. I can only tell you what I have seen.

On America’s day of trial and grief I saw millions of people instinctively grab for a neighbor’s hand and rally to the cause of one another. That is the America I know. At a time when religious bigotry might have flowed freely, I saw Americans reject prejudice and embrace people of the Muslim faith. That is the nation I know. At a time when nativism could have stirred hatred and violence against people perceive as outsiders, I saw Americans reaffirm their welcome to immigrants and refugees. That is the nation I know. At a time when some viewed the rising generation as individualistic and decadence, I saw young people embrace and ethnic of service and rise to selfless action. That is the nation I know.

This is not mere nostalgia, it is the truest version of ourselves. It is what we have been, and what we can be again. 20 years ago, terrorists chose a random group of Americans on a routine flight to be collateral damage in a spectacular act of terror. The 33 passengers and seven crew of flight 93 could have been any group of citizens selected by fate. In a sense, they stood in for us all.

The terrorists soon discovered that a random group of Americans is an exceptional group of people, facing an impossible circumstance. They comforted their loved ones by phone, braced each other for action and defeated the designs of evil.

These Americans were brave, strong and united in ways that shocked the terrorists but should not surprise any of us.  This is the nation we know. And whenever we need hope and inspiration, we can look to the skies and remember. 

God bless.

 

As teachers in American schools, may we always teach our students about this America we hope to recapture.

Bless you my children,
Terry L. Simpson

Terry L. Simpson, EdD
Prof. of Secondary Education Emeritus
Maryville College
Education Blog

Preparing New Teachers Who Will  
be Successful First-Year Teachers 

Professor Rebecca Lucas (Maryville College, Maryville, TN) and 5th Grade Teacher LeSeanny Brannon (Calvin Donaldson Environmental Science Academy, Chattanooga, TN)

I began my teaching career in the fall of 1973. And during the next 44 years, I spent most of my emotional, mental, physical and professional energy in this profession. I have not regretted a day that I spent trying to make our profession more effective and stronger. I now live in Houston, Texas, and a few weeks ago I attended a middle school open house. I met several teachers and when I mentioned that I had retired in 2018 after 44 years as a teacher, each teacher responded with the same phrase,” I’m sorry.” By the time I left the open house, I was pretty angry. What in the name of God are we doing?  “I’m sorry?” In this day and age, our children do not need teachers who are sorry because they are only a teacher. Of course, our children in any age have not needed a teacher with that attitude. Please allow me to calm down. I taught at the middle school, high school, community college, and university levels. I taught in both public and private education in two different states. I have taught wonderful young men and women whom I will never forget. Like you, I have also talked those students who made me mad as H_ _ _.

However, I think there are reasons for this pervasive attitude in teaching. In 1990, I went to Maryville College and served in the teacher education program for the next 28 years. Around half of those years, I was director of teacher education. Even today, as then, Maryville College never offered graduate programs.  I asked for graduate programs in education on several occasions, but I was turned down each time. The college wanted to emphasize undergraduate research, and it continues with that un1que purpose. As I look back on the situation, I have come to a very interesting conclusion. This single focus on undergraduate education helped the teacher education program to focus on equipping successful first-year teachers. No one on our faculty ever taught graduate classes. Each faculty member supervised student teachers each year, including myself.  I think I may have learned a few strategies and skills that are essential for preparing first-year teachers to be successful.

Mentors

A number of years ago, we began requesting specific information from our graduates that would become a very special tradition at the College. We often told our graduates that they were not equipped to be a common run-of-the-mill teacher. We expected them to win teacher of the year year at some point in their professional careers. We then told them, ”When you are selected as teacher of the year, you must call one of your professors at Maryville College before you call your mother.”  It was amazing how many of them did just that. Several years back, I began to receive phone call after phone call from our graduates telling me they had just been informed that they were chosen teacher of the year. After a few days of these calls, I called Dr. Rebecca Lucas and told her that we had a panel in the making for our student teaching seminar. We eventually were able to get nine of these MC graduates to attend a student teaching seminar on a Wednesday at 5 PM. When we had panels of this nature, we never told our graduates what to say. However, I began to hear the same important advice over and over again. They would tell our student teachers that when you get to your new school, find the most positive and effective teacher in the school and make that teacher your new best friend.  What were our graduates trying to tell our student teachers? New, first-year teachers must have mentors in order to be assured of success.

As teachers and administrators in the profession, we have known for a long time how important effective mentoring can be. However, most of the programs have been ineffective and lasted for a very short time. Consequently, when you are hired as a new teacher regardless of whether your school has a formal mentoring program, you must find a mentor.

As I began my professional teaching career in the fall of 1973, I will never forget those who were my mentors, but I don’t remember the school having a formal program. Brenda Yarnell was my team leader on Team 8-A. I will never be able to repay her for the confidence she built inside of me. The other extremely important teachers were Catherine Gettys and Jean Wolfe. We had the best middle school principal on this planet, George Perry.

An Effective Discipline Management Plan

I will concede the point that some of you may take exception to the term I have used in this paragraph. However, I have seen new and old terms for classroom discipline and management come and go. The one I have chosen encapsulates the point I am trying to make. Teaching and learning in the classroom require discipline. Every activity and learning strategy cannot be fun and games. I am not opposed to incorporating fun and games during instruction. I think that I used these strategies very effectively. Yet, I tried to make certain that discipline was maintained in my classroom.

There is one question regarding acceptable consequences for inappropriate behavior in the classroom that must be answered for every new teacher. If this question is not answered clearly, then most of the new teachers in that school will fail. Before this question is answered, several sub questions must be answered for new teachers. When should I seek help from other teachers? If I asked for help, will they give me help? The answer is not always “Yes.” When should I take a discipline problem to the Vice Principal or Principal?  If I take a discipline problem to the principal, will the principal consider me a classroom management failure and not renew my contract for next year? How often is this scenario played out in our local school?

These questions are not frivolous, petty, or insignificant. When they are not answered, new teachers feel threatened, insecure, and unable to teach. If you apply to a school controlled by a few powerful parents and/or politicians, and the administrators and teachers do not control the school system, I would advise you to find another school.

Standards

When I began my teacher education career at Maryville College in 1990, the state of Tennessee had just passed new standards that would greatly alter the way Tennessee’s colleges and universities had been preparing teachers. Each college/university would be visited by a Board of Examiners who would be trained by the Tennessee Department of Education. Their job was to determine if the college/university was adequately preparing its teacher education students to master the standards required by the state of Tennessee.

Something very interesting happened in Tennessee at this point, which I think was the greatest decision that could have been made by the state Department of Education. As we planned for our first date visit in 1992, the State Department of education did not give us a list of courses to teach. Rather, they gave us a list of standards to meet. Consequently, Maryville College was free to design the required courses taken by teacher education students. At this point, I will only say that our curriculum design or teacher education program was unique and a perfect fit for the curriculum at Maryville College. Feel free to talk with administrators and principals in the schools in the East Tennessee/Blount County area, and let these folks tell you if our graduates were well prepared to handle the classroom.

After the standards are clearly defined and your teacher education students can identify those standards and understand how to prepare instruction so their students can master those standards, we have to move to classroom learning objectives. We always asked our teacher education students to answer two questions as they planned instruction. One, what will your students know when this lesson is concluded? Two, what will your students be able to do from the standpoint of new skills after this lesson is concluded? I can remember distinctly must first social studies supervisor from Knox County schools when I began teaching. She would walk into my classroom and look on my walls and bulletin boards and ask, “Terry, where are your objectives? How you know if your students have achieved what you wanted them to learn?” The name of this social studies supervisor was Ms. Jane Doyle. In 44 years in education she continues to be the best supervisor I have ever worked with. She retired from Knox County schools and entered seminary to become a Methodist minister; however, she soon died with a brain tumor. It was a sad day.

Hard Work

Both of my parents grew up during the Great Depression on small farms in rural southeastern Tennessee. Both families had nine children and neither of my grandfather’s ever drove a car or other mechanical vehicle. They farmed land on these mountainsides using either mules or horses as the source of power. My father was born in 1920 and my mother was born in 1921. My father quit school in the six grade to go to work and help his family. He was lucky. A relative and family friend was able to get him a job at the local hosiery mill. My mother quit school in the 10^th grade, and one day I asked her why she quit school. She replied, “The other students make fun of me because of the clothes I had to wear to school.” This experience had a powerful effect on her until she day she died.

After I finished elementary school, my parents were not able to help me academically. When I went off to college, I was terrified. I was afraid that I would fail and humiliate my parents. However, there is one gift they gave me for which I am eternally grateful: Expect to Work Hard! Why do you want to be a teacher? I’ve asked this question a million times in 28 years to determine if we should admit a student into the Maryville College teacher education program. I did not always get a good answer. “Because you have the summers off,” is not a good answer. As we began each new academic semester, I would always remind my students of three things in order to be successful: “Be early, stay late, and over plan!”

Positive and Healthy Relationships Between Students and Teachers

In the last 44 years of being a teacher, I have lost count of the number of teachers in both public, private and religious education that are no longer teaching because of inappropriate relationships with students. Some of these relationships ended tragically in murder. If we could scare our new student teachers into walking the straight and narrow way regarding this issue, it was worth the effort.

Leadership in this issue must be taken by the adult in the situation: the teacher. As a new teacher, you must quickly get a handle on two attitudes that can result in a premature end to your teaching career. The first is a question: “Do you need the approval of your students?” This attitude may seem harmless, but it is far from being harmless. It can put a teacher in a situation of compromise with students. Students can recognize this attitude as a weakness in a teacher very quickly play the situation to their advantage.

As a teacher you cannot be the friend of your students. Your students do not need another friend; they need a dedicated and caring teacher. There must be a gulf between you and the students in your classroom. This does not mean you cannot listen to your students, care about their needs outside the classroom, be interested in their other activities outside the classroom, or care about their social and economic needs. There are safe and wise approaches to take when relating to your students in these areas as the teacher. If you try to be a friend to your students, you will never be their favorite teacher.

Bless You My Children   

         

#MCTeachersTeachEvenInAPandemic

 

Amazing! That is my first thought when I see the list of educators and former Maryville College alums from our program who have been nominated for or won Teacher of the Year in our local school districts. My second thought is "I have to call Terry!" It's always nice to see who makes the list. And it is always a robust list of Maryville College grads, but the 2020/2021 list is different…

Take a moment to consider the personal investment and sacrifice each of these educators must have made to find themselves nominated for teacher of the year?

These individuals define professionalism and commitment to education. Striving for and being recognized for excellence in a pandemic--in a year when our students' academic/mental health/ physical health needs are at an all-time high--is pretty special!

These exemplary educators were asked to prepare in-person instruction, remote instruction, and hybrid instruction for their students and at times, for their own children who were virtual learners. During a school year when their own families were at risk, as were they, these educators continued to teach and inspire and support your children and mine and their own.

They were expected to be available at all hours of the day and night. They were caring for, running errands for, and worrying about their own parents, grandparents, and other extended family members. They showed up day after day after day--sometimes on little or no sleep...and we knew they would.

None do this work for awards or recognition or coffee certificates or massage coupons. These amazing humans do it because they have one goal every day--to make a difference for the students in their care. And clearly, they are doing just that.

Congrats and thank you! @Jama Anderson, @Courtney Whitehead, @Jon Young, Tiffany Tipton, Amanda Lawhorn Clark, Kelli Ierulli Nehf, Miriam Alvarez Kacie Everett West Stephanie Kirk Emily Hope Rizzitiello, LeighAnn Bonesteel, Alicia Brown Phillips, and Michelle Harris

***I know we are missing many of our MC alums who were recognized this year and in years past. We want to collect this information and celebrate your accomplishments. Please let us know if you have been recognized for an award! As always, you make us proud every single day you show up for kids!

BLucas

rebecca.lucas@maryvillecollege

#InspiringMCAlumni Wow! We have so many Educators of the Year this year to honor!  Please let us know of others in the comments below!

• Jama Anderson ‘96, Related Service Provider of the Year, Elementary Math Coach

• Courtney Whitehead '00, Principal of the Year, Finalist, Carpenters Elementary School

• Tiffany Tipton'03, Honoree for Teacher of the Year, Union Grove Middle School

• Jon Young '04, Principal of the Year, Finalist, Carpenters Middle School

• Stephanie Jones Kirk ’05 – Reading Teacher of the Year, Heritage High School

• Kacie Everett West '07 – Teacher of the Year, Prospect Elementary School

• Kelli Ierulli Nehf '10 – Secondary Counselor of the Year, Carpenters Middle School

• Amanda Lawhorn Clark '13 – Finalist for Technology Innovator of the Year, Heritage High School 

• Emily Wiggins Rizzitiello '14, Teacher of the Year 20-21 Oliver Springs Middle School

• Miriam Alvarez ‘15, Pi Beta Phi Elementary School, Sevier County Schools

• Alicia Brown Phillips '10, High School Teacher of the Year, Clinton High School

• LeighAnn Yadon Bonesteel, '04, Principal of the Year, South Clinton Elementary School

• L. Michelle Bullis Harris, '93, High School Teacher of the Year, William Blount High School

New Vision and Goals for K-12 Education Since 2018

 

I retired from Maryville College in May 2018 after teaching at the college for 28 years. When I retired, I was the director of teacher education. I now live in Houston, Texas. I had planned to do some teaching, but I developed some health problems and had major surgery. But that has not kept me from being aware of what is happening in education.

As a result of my retirement and hospital stay, I have had ample time to think about the issues our country faces today. When I go through this mental exercise of trying to determine the cause of the issues we are facing, I always think about the possible role of education in addressing those issues. We can take our pick from the issues at hand: race relations, political polarization, the downward spiral of income of middle America, and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the institutions of America.

Competition versus Cooperation

I will not argue the point that we live in a competitive world, and I have been just as concerned as you that our schools are not adequately preparing all students for what they will face in the future. On the other side of the coin is cooperation and I am just as afraid that we have not prepared our students to cooperate especially with those who are different from them.  I played basketball in middle school and high school, so I learned a lot about being successful in competition. I’m not certain that cooperation received the same emphasis, especially when it came to those who are different than I. Living in southern Appalachia, most of the folks I saw were working-class white and either Baptist or Methodist in religious preference.

I believe that cooperation is more powerful than competition. In competition, one side wins and the other side loses, one side is built up and the other side is torn down, and one side receives admiration from society and the other side receives only disdain. However, in cooperation all sides are winners, all sides are built up, and all sides receive admiration for what they have accomplished. The issue that scares me the most is I am not certain in our current political state that we can return to cooperation over competition.

Public Service

I can remember from my early days in education the required course in government was called Civics. I was well into my educational journey before I realize that the civics books emphasized the role of the citizen in governance rather than just the structure of our government. We killed civics because it cannot be taught like a history course. It must include engagement with one’s community, and we have not done that very well in our public schools.

There is another term that I would like to inject at this point. Elected officials are often referred to as public servants. If one fulfills the role of a public servant, he/she will always emphasize cooperation. However, I am afraid that our elected officials do not behave as public servants, rather they operate in the arena of competition and their goal is to destroy the opposition.  But let me be clear, I am not blaming solely our elected officials, we get the leadership we vote for. We deserve what we get.

Bless You My Children,
Dr. Terry L. Simpson
Maryville College
Prof. of Secondary Education Emeritus

The Journey

 

 

I don’t know if you ever wonder where I find ideas for a topic for one of my educational blogs. Actually, I get my ideas from many different sources. I have chosen for this blog an email sent to me from one of our former students. I will not give you his name or the names of the local schools because the thrust of what he is saying and his pilgrimage over time are what I want you to focus on.

 

Dr. Simpson,

I want to send this to you to say thank you. I’m not sure if you know of all of my journey in education, but I know you know how I fought the idea of even becoming an educator. I was set on using Maryville as a place to get a business degree, cruise on to law school and becoming the next Jerry Maguire. But fate, the Lord and Terry Simpson knew better!

 

You may not remember talking to me about becoming an education major my sophomore year and again my junior year. You may not know that to this day I felt there was a sinister plot involving you and Jim Pavao to talk me into this pathway and four years I worked on how that could be with a conspiracy theorist like mentality. But in the end, it brought me to where I am today. It has been quite a journey since 2003. A journey of returning home to OR to learn the lesson no man can be a prophet in his own town to carving out a new try in Nashville, to burning out of education completely to sale construction to a return to OR. It’s been quite a ride, I’m not sure if I am coming or going most days, but I want to thank you for putting me on the rails.

 

On July 20^th, I made another leap. This time a leap of massive proportion. I have traded in my 1.8 mile commute to the middle school I attended here in OR as the Vice Principal to take on the task of building a virtual learning program for Knox County as the assistant principal for grades 6-12. We have close to 19,000 students in the district K-12 in the virtual learning program. For my role, I helped to serve close to 10,000 of those students along with countless teachers and my amazing principal. We have been building this program, and working to design how we are going to help support all of those students, teachers and families.

 

It dawned on me today, in the middle of my 25^th conversation with a confused parent, who had no idea what asynchronous meant, talking on the phone this evening with two teachers who are unsure, and preparing to produce a video on connecting with students and families in a virtual learning environment for my morning staff video messages, I owe you. I would have never chosen this life for myself. A life and pathway I know led me to my amazing wife, who is an assistant clinical professor at UT K teaching elementary teachers how to teach math. A life that has led to the two most amazing children in the world has seen and a  life where I now can truly help students help their kids. A life where all of the challenges I made to the status quo of education are coming to fruition for me as I am able to help make real change. You lit the first flame and there have been many days along the way I have bless you for that and many days I have cussed you for it as well (imagine me as a sports agent, making 3%...ahhh living the dream).

 

I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate you! How grateful I am for you and seeing in me, something I never would have seen in myself. At the end of the day, Maryville College was a great experience, but I truly believe the Lord knew this great-grandson of an Irishman needed to be a Scot to me Dr. Terry Simpson.

 

I appreciate you more than you’ll ever know and I love you dearly for infusing a passion for helping kids into my life.

 

I hope you are doing well and enjoying retirement.

CL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bless you my children, 

TLSimpson

Educational Reform in the United States

We Missed Two Golden Opportunities

During my 44 years in public and private education, with the last 28 years being in teacher education at Maryville College, I participated in numerous educational reform efforts. These efforts enabled me to study the successes and failures of educational reform, and ponder the reason for those successes and failures.

Since I started teaching middle school in 1973, I thought that I would go back and summarize the major reform efforts since 1970. Then I remembered that this is an educational blog not a doctoral thesis.

As I was thinking about this transition in emphasis, one of my favorite musical groups of the 1950s and 60s came to mind. The Statler Brothers began performing in 1955 as a country music, gospel, and vocal group. They began traveling with Johnny Cash in 1964, and it all ended in 2002 at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Virginia with their retirement from live concerts. 

One of their fun songs was Do You Remember These?

Do you remember these…
The boogey man, the lemonade stand, taking your tonsils out?

Ah, do you remember these…
Gable’s charm, frog in your arm, loud mufflers, and going steady,
Veronica and Betty, white bucks, and Blue Suede shoes?

Do we remember these…
Knock Knock jokes, who’s there? Dewey. Dewey who? The boat neck shirts, fender skirts, and Crinoline petticoats?

Now that I have your mind off the Coronavirus…Oops, if you remember most of the items above, you are more susceptible to the virus because of your age, so stay safe.

I began my teaching career in 1973 at Cedar Bluff Middle School in Knoxville, Tennessee. I also taught at Greenville High School and Collin County Community College in Texas during the 1980s. I finished my career with 28 years at Maryville College in Maryville, Tennessee in teacher education. During these years it seemed as if we were constantly reforming and trying to reinvent education.

Do you remember some of the reforms during the 1970s? 

Do you remember these...
PL 94-142, the Buckley Amendment, open space education (the school with no individual classrooms), and testing ALL teachers for their content knowledge since we already knew that teachers were not very smart?

Do you remember some of the reforms during the 1980s? 

Ah, do you remember these...
A Nation at the Risk, President Ronald Reagan and his goal to abolish the United States Department of Education, Cultural Literacy, higher academic standards, accountability, the Tennessee Instructional Model, the Lesson Cycle (Texas) and raising the standards for admission into teacher education programs in our colleges and universities?

Do you remember some of the reforms during the 1990s?

Ah, do we remember these...
Outcome based education, goals-based education which included the following two goals: By the year 2000, all American students will come to school ready to learn, and by the year 2000 American students will be first in the world in achievement in mathematics and science. No, we did not reach these goals.

Do you remember some of the reforms since the year 2000? 

Do we remember these...
The No Child Left Behind Act, Block scheduling, Teacher Quality Grants, teacher evaluations focused on student outcomes rather than teacher inputs, and the Common Core?

I would argue that few of these reform efforts had any major or lasting impact on education in the United States. In my 44 years as a teacher and teacher educator, I opposed a few of these reform efforts with all my strength. The Tennessee Instructional Model and the Lesson Cycle in Texas were really the same model of instruction. The model, a direct instruction model, was to be used in all lessons in all classes K-12. I thought this was absurd. Different academic subjects and different topics within those subjects often require different models of instruction to be taught and learned effectively. These two models of required instruction simply tied the hands of effective and creative teachers. The No Child Left Behind law is what you get when knowledgeable teachers are not part of the process in developing new curricula. Some of the requirements were so far out in left field that it became comical.

However, the one reform in curriculum that I thought had a real chance of making meaningful reform was the Common Core. The opposition to the Common Core came from politicians and self-appointed watchdogs of curriculum reform, and they had no idea of what this reform effort was trying to do and especially where it originated. The Common Core was completed in only two subjects: mathematics and English Language Arts. It was amazing to hear people blame the Common Core for all the different things they opposed in American education.

I will conclude this blog with one structural change, and one curriculum change that I think we should investigate fully. I believe that we should require all students to take the same courses in high school for the first two years. Then the students planning to attend a traditional college/university will stay in high school for the last two years to prepare for a rigorous college curriculum. The other students would be transferred to the community college system in order to study rigorous technical and vocational subjects. They should receive a technical certificate in their area of study. A significant part of their senior year would be spent working in their technical fields much like student teachers in a teacher licensure program work in the schools. We are smart people, so we can figure out what to do about football. Of course, the Coronavirus may have already figured it out for us.

The second change I would like to see in the American high school is a change as to when various courses in the high school curricula are offered. Student schedules should resemble college schedules rather than an elementary school schedule. In Brazil I visited a very good private high school. The first thing I noticed was that students had some classes on MWF and other classes on TR. These students took Physics every year for four years. In the MWF and TR schedule lots of creative design is possible.

Our response in the United States to the call for reform has been block scheduling. When this first came out, and school systems started adopting block scheduling, I opposed those who contended that block scheduling weakened the academic program. Now, after watching block scheduling for a number of years, I must conclude that it has weakened the academic program in most high schools. It is no wonder that so many of our students perform so poorly on international mathematic exams.

Meaningful reform in American public schools will be extremely difficult. Changing the structure of the American high school is next to impossible. We need some strong effective leadership in these areas. Do I have anyone who will take the challenge?


Terry L. Simpson, Ed.D.
Professor of Secondary Education Emeritus
Maryville College

Bless You My Children!

Would you like Dr. Simpson to speak at your school, teacher education event, or church? He can address a number of topics that would be agreed on in advance.
Your highest cost would be travel.

A Much Smaller Number of Undergraduate College Students Indicate That They Are Interested in Becoming A Teacher at the K-12 Level

Even though I retired in May 2018, I still constantly get updates and reports on the status of education in the United States and in countries literally around the world.  In my estimation, however, the most serious problem facing the future of education in the United States is the decreasing number of college students interested in going into education, especially K-12 education. The article I have just read was a study completed in Michigan; the number of students interested in becoming teachers has dropped up to 90% at some small private colleges.

The first question most people ask is: Why is this happening? You usually get similar reasons, often centered around low salaries, lack of prestige, and history. Unfortunately, these are accurate to a degree, so in order to recruit new teachers to the profession and strengthen public education, we must come up with some new strategies.

Since I was a teacher for 44 years at the middle school, high school, and community college levels, and I taught in the Maryville College Teacher Licensure Program for 28 years, I have a thought or two to share with you. First of all, K-12 teachers do not set the standards for teachers, nor do they govern who enters the profession. In the United States of America, education is the responsibility of state government, and not the national/federal government. I often had students from other countries in my classes at Maryville College, and they could not understand how something as important as education could be left to state government. When this type of governance is mandated by the Constitution, there is one guarantee. The numerous, and often small, school districts fall into one of two categories: rich school districts, or poor school districts, based on the wealth of the districts.

When I examined the local school districts that worked with our  Maryville College program, I found it amazing that you could get in your car in one school district, drive less than 30 minutes, and find yourself in another school district that did not provide the same advantages for their children. Teachers who get trapped in some of these lower-performing school districts are eager to get out. If they are successful at being hired by one of the higher-performing school districts, they will make more money and have more respect and prestige from the community. This is one of the hardest battles we face in this country with local school districts. The educational experiences are not the same.

I am concerned that on many occasions teachers are their own worst enemies. They actually do not want people in the larger community to know they are teachers. You can attend almost any college recruitment day, and it will not be long before you hear the following statement from one of the parents, “I will pay for your college experience in any field--except teaching.” I am not certain we will ever be able to change this perception. But there is one thing I know for certain: if you build a high-quality teacher licensure program, you can still recruit good students into that program. In short, it all starts with the teacher education faculty. However, the program must also have the full support of the college administration and faculty in order to equip new, high-quality teachers for the profession. This can be done, because I played a small part in doing it.

We often told our teacher licensure students at Maryville College, “If you want to be TREATED like a professional, ACT like a professional, SPEAK like a professional, DRESS like a professional, and INTERACT with your students as a professional would.”  For, you see, teachers earn the status of “professional” from the community by working hard for that recognition by modeling the significant traits of a professional. There is, however, one thing to avoid: Do not camp out in the teachers’ lounge every day at lunch, because you will turn into the teacher that you do not want to be. It’s a place where things are said about kids--and their parents--that a true professional should not be discussing in public. As a teacher, you will find out personal things about your students and their families that you should take to your grave and never discuss with anyone.

Teachers should be involved in their communities in all aspects of community life. These are places where teachers can earn the respect of the community. I’ll never forget one day, after church in the town where I was teaching high school, when a member of the church was discussing with me my job in the community.  I told him I was a high school history teacher, and we began discussing a few of my topics and other things I was doing in class. He responded, “You know, I think you could really teach history.” Those are the battles we must fight and win. Most of the adults in this country do not have kids in school, but we must sell our programs to that very community. It can be done.

Bless You My Children.

Terry L. Simpson, EdD