<HTML>There appears to be two poles in the debate about educational leadership
and the lack of teachers. One holds that the problems are so deep-seated,
cultural and existential on the societal level if you will, that there is
little we can do on the day-to-day, planning level short of some sort of
Cultural Revolution (capitalized to evoke the potential totalitarian
horrors--not that anyone is advocating such totalitarian approaches).
The other focuses on the narrow issue of educators' inability to make a
living wage. When my son was a student at a fairly good yeshiva high
school in the U.S. a few years back, his classmates discovered that his
father went to Harvard. They exclaimed, "You must be rich." My son
replied, "No, he's in Jewish education." They replied, "Why would he do
that?" In other words, there is little getting around the overbearing
materialism of contemporary Jewish life, be that in Orthodoxy or non,
Israel or America. And it feels like it's getting worse. Kosher cruises,
Pesach in the mountains, gourmet restaurants, etc. At the same time we
witness increasing conspicuous consumption among Jews of all stripes and
walks of life, we see and hear intense complaints about the expense of day
school education. The Jewish community as a whole is fabulously wealthy
yet screams about the expense of day schools who are already undercharging
relative to real costs and underpaying staff.
So, what can we educators do? What can schools do? It is a cultural
problem, deep-seated, where materialism, even dressed up as Torah (the
more expensive the lulav and etrog the better, stretching Hazal's notion
of hiddur) is valued more than Torah and as a result, teachers are
underpaid and so many potentially good teachers would not even consider
entering the poor paying trenches of the classroom.
Humble suggestions:
To what extent are rebbes, and general studies teachers, too, encouraging
their students to think of hinukh as a career? "You know, Moshe, have you
ever thought of becoming a teacher? You seem to really relish learning
and helping others." Or the Camp Moshava counselor or NCSY director
having the same conversation. To what extent are the present educators
committed to raising up the next generation of teachers? Should there be
an organized Future Jewish Teachers effort at the high school level,
allowing promising and interested high school kids the opportunity to
shadow teachers and function as aids in elementary settings?
What about individual communities/schools providing full masters
scholarships for promising undergraduates to pursue a masters and having
the candidate commit to teaching in that school or community?
At the same time, schools do need to provide living wages (the accountant
or other non-doctor/lawyer salary is a good guide) plus benefits.
Benefits (medical, dental, retirement/disability for the family as well)
are even more important in many cases than straight salary increases.
Also, day schools and Yeshivot need to reconfigure themselves to be
genuine learning communities, where staff work collaboratively,
collegially. Mentorships for new teachers hardly exist in day schools.
Action research among teachers ditto. Faculty evaluation that is shaped
by the faculty themselves is rare in day schools.
Summary: recruitment (seeding the culture and spreading the word of the
rewards of the career plus salary and benefits) and retention
(credentialed and merit pay scales--both should be in place--plus creating
learning communities within schools) are concrete ways to address these
issues. It will take more money but money alone will not accomplish very
much, IMHO.
Rob Toren
Samis Foundation
Seattle, WA</HTML>
