Teaching

My wife is a teacher and the youngest of my three kids is finishing his last year of high school, so, like it or not, I hear about it. I like to say that my wife teaches the 3 R's: Remedial Reading to Rascals. She works with little kids who are having trouble with reading, and recently with math. She seems to thrive on it.

By the time my kids reached their senior year of high school they were thoroughly sick of it. I can sympathize, I felt the same way. College was somewhat better, but even then there were some teachers I enjoyed and some that drove me crazy.

What teachers earn is often up to debate, especially since they are paid with revenue from taxes. On one hand we have people arguing they are overpaid incompetents. On the other, we have the education association arguing that teachers, given their required qualifications, are paid barely enough, especially considering how important their work is.

So I was intrigued by Malcolm Gladwell's story "Most Likely To Succeed" in "The New Yorker" (December 15, 2008). He talks about some research being done to try and determine what makes a good teacher. They have already figured out what is common knowledge, and that is some teachers are much more effective, i.e. better teachers, than others. However, none of the current qualifying methods are of any use in determining who makes a good teacher. Nowadays, succeeding in teaching is more a matter of determination than ability, as in determination to obtain all the necessary credentials to advance your career.

I suspect it all comes down to common sense, but common sense seems durn near impossible to quantify. I am a little concerned that this research might lead to method of doing just that, and just where that might lead us.