Terry Erickson writes, in part: > Do you really think that > graduating with a bachelors degree is the end of a teachers > education??? A > majority of teachers go on to get MA degrees (paying 100% of the cost mind > you) and attend workshops throughout the school year and summer.
So what's the big deal? Lots of professionals go on to complete graduate and post-graduate studies/degrees (and most pay for it themselves) in order to learn and make themselves more valuable in the marketplace. And, after completing a graduate degree, most folks have no assurance of receiving any increase in wages-- it's a gamble with an unknown payoff financially. When teachers complete a graduate degree, there is usually an automatic bump in wages-- making their investment a less risky venture given the somewhat known financial payoff. As for continuing education, it's fairly standard if someone wants to stay current in a given field, and not at all unique to educators-- realtors, lawyers, architects/engineers, planners, and many others, white collar and blue collar, use continuing education regularly, and often pay for it themselves. And, leaders in nearly all fields employ an array of continual quality improvement research and applied metrics that go far beyond trend lines and best practices modeling. I think it's important we keep an open mind when we talk about spending money for training, continuing education, benchmarking and the like. Such investments should be made in an effort to improve performance and end results-- based on a sound metric feedback loop. And, leaders should be cognizant of taxpayers and shareholders (the public and private investors) when making such management/investment decisions. Individuals are always free to invest their own funds and reap the uncertain rewards-- and more power to them for taking the risk. However, risk management is a function of leadership, and we hold our leaders to a higher standard when making investments on our behalf, especially during periods of depressed earnings and revenues. In most business environments all professional employees don't become black belts (a measure of achievement in six-sigma continuous improvement circles), but rather lead and teach methods/processes to regular employees. And, lest we forget, not all professional employees are black belt material (at least not in the near term anyway). It's a competitive world out there, and life just ain't fair, even for educators. Michael Hohmann Linden Hills www.mahohmannbizplans.com > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of > Terry Erickson > Sent: Friday, November 15, 2002 8:34 PM > To: dain lyngstad; Mpls Issues List > Subject: Re: [Mpls] Recent posts on education reform and taxes > > > Teachers must continually take classes to learn about the latest research > and best practices. Staff development is the keystone to > increasing student > achievement through effective teaching. My guess is that Minneapolis has > not spent enough money to train teachers. Do you really think that > graduating with a bachelors degree is the end of a teachers > education??? A > majority of teachers go on to get MA degrees (paying 100% of the cost mind > you) and attend workshops throughout the school year and summer. Demand, > advocate, and support teacher training at your child's school! > > Terry Erickson > Whittier > (teacher) snip _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
