What crap.
The annual Utah Education Dean's colloquium met this week to discuss teacher shortages in Utah. One of the issues cited was state schools can't produce teachers fast enough. Now why would that be? It wouldn't be because teachers are paid crap and are overworked thanks to some of the largest class sizes in the nation would it?
[Betsy Escandon, a research analyst at the Utah Foundation, a nonprofit public policy research organization] also urged research probing how college students decide whether to major in education or pursue a teaching career.
"We need data on how those people make those decisions," she said. "Increasing salary alone won't do it."
Is she serious? Many teachers have second jobs to pay the bills. My daughter recently spotted one of her jr. high teachers making coffee at Starbucks. The article also states one of the reasons for the high turnover of teachers are "personal issues." It seem more than a bit odd to me that the inability to afford housing was listed as a personal issue. Can you say "denial?" Come on boys and girls. I know you can do it.
And we need more research to figure out why students are not choosing education as a career? Maybe we need to figure out why people in charge of education policy are such idiots. Utah state income tax is used solely to fund public education. Raise the tax. Increase teacher salaries and reduce class size. It really is that simple. It may not solve all your problems, such as women leaving to raise families, but it will surely make a big dent.