The tone of the article begs a response from a better-informed individual within the educational profession.
I am a public educator and have taught in Utah's school system for 32 continuous years. I trust this makes me somewhat of a practical expert in the field. My perspective in the profession has remained generally positive, in spite of parents who think they were once in school, administrators who forget within three minutes of a promotion that they were educators, and an anesthetic and arrogant Legislature that years ago, very consciously decided to make education primarily a "woman's job."
In the classroom, within my four walls, with my students and Shakespeare, Greek mythology and early British literature, I have a raging passion for what I do.
Public educators in Utah are not impossible to "root out of the system." The first three or four years of a teacher's career in any district is deemed "temporary." Every educator teaches at the pleasure of the district board of education and can be released at any time, for any reason.
If, after the probationary period and many later evaluations, the teacher is regarded as competent, "permanent status" is granted. Thereafter, educators are evaluated at least once a year, every year, and must submit personal and professional goals and objectives for consideration. A teacher without promise is certainly reflected in these first years and can be easily sifted out of the system.
If an educator with "permanent status" is not performing pursuant to his/her job description, it is the administrator's responsibility to remediate and outline a course of rehabilitation. As it should be with any profession, if district compliance with proper documentation and worker's rights are not an issue, the incapable educator can and should be discharged.
Blaming teacher associations for administrators abdicating their responsibilities regarding the atrocious educator is a cheap shot by this newspaper's editorial board and legislators alike. It is a pity if the public buys the myth.
The teaching profession no longer attracts many of the best and the brightest, especially women. In ever-increasing numbers, they are moving into more lucrative professional fields. When teachers say it isn't about the money, I am here to say, "It is about the money."
An educator's salary in Utah will not buy a nice home and automobile, much less family vacations in the summer. Most men I know in the profession have additional jobs in order to maintain a family. Teaching will not support a family even close to the style of other university-educated professionals.
This state could not see fit to keep up with inflation during my career. The purchasing power of my paycheck is less than 50 percent of what it was in 1973. Today, my retirement benefits are quickly being eroded, thanks to our Legislature. I personally feel betrayed. The hemorrhaging of educators into higher-salaried professions has everything to do with money.
There are actually fewer "bad teachers" than those who are anti-teacher and anti-education would have one believe. The protocols are inherent in the system, if they are followed. How does it make sense to further punish a whole profession that does such a tremendous job shaping the intellectual minds of Utah's children?
Consider the surgeon and scientist working fervently on today's crises; weigh the words of a respected statesman or religious icon; deliberate the thoughts of a prize- winning author or artist - teachers helped shape them. Reflect on the creative and life-shaping influences educators have on your children.
Many spend more time with teachers than parents. Educators, by and large, entered the profession for the best of reasons. Don't blame the teaching community for the antics or the overzealous ravings of the few misinformed.
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Marianne March Berrett is an English teacher at Logan High School in the Logan City School District.
