Blog Post 14

Teaching Can Be a Profession by Joel Klein
Problems and Solutions
1. Klein calls for a knowledge-based education beginning before age 5.
2. Make teaching a profession by better academic training, recruiting from the top third of classes, and rewarding excellence instead of seniority. Also, he suggests that giving teachers standards to meet such as entrance exams would turn it to a more professional occupation.


I agree with some of Klein's arguments,however, I'm not sure about the first on the list. I think that children should be continuously taught throughout their lives; however, I do not think that putting children younger than five in many classes or programs is a good idea. The time from birth to five years of age is very important for education, according to www2.ed.gov. However, this time is important also to allow children to play and explore."Research News You Can Use: Pretend Play Is Important But Its Role in Learning is Complex" by Kyle Snow, Ph.D, at www.naeyc.org explains that children have to have a mix of instruction and play to allow healthy development. If Klein is talking about knowledge-based learning for young children balanced with play, then I agree with his stance. However, I do not think that children should have a rigid instruction program because it'll only prove harmful in the future.


Klein's next stance is to make teaching more of a limited profession than something everyone can do. In his article, "Teaching Can Be a Profession, Klein states that teaching has become something that the attitude towards teaching has been "anyone with a college degree can be a teacher" and that it needs to change. I agree that teacher programs should be more selective in students who can be teachers because teaching is a very important job that has been disregarded for a long time in our country. Teachers are not the glorified babysitters that many individuals think they are. Teachers are preparing the individuals that will one day run the country. However, by experiences in my own life I can tell that no one really sees this importance. For example, ever since I started the education program I've been told by multiple people that I was making a mistake by becoming a teacher. I was wasting my talent and settling for a future in a low-income job because of my choice. An article from education next.org provides examples of how teacher selection in the United States is different than that of more educational successful countries. The article discusses that teachers are the key factor in improving a failing a system. So, I agree with Klein's argument that teaching needs to become more selective on who can teach. I also think that teachers should be continuously exposed to new ways of teaching and instructed in those new practices.

Klein has some really good points in his article regarding early education and how to improve teachers. I agree with many of his ideas and solutions. However, I do think that early education has to be handed with care so that young children do not start stressing over their education before they even start kindergarten.

Source:rockettiers.org