Too often, they are abandoned when they begin their careers, and we must nurture them and offer them help. Salaries will also have to be raised to attract the best and the brightest to our profession. In his annual back to school address this year, Secretary of Education Riley produced statistics showing that a new teacher makes less than beginning clerical workers and laborers. That is inexcusable especially as teachers are asked to do more and more. I see the broader scope of education now.
Teachers have to become leaders within their communities and policy makers within their states.
Moreover, I believe that schools must be based upon teamwork and that we should all celebrate each other's efforts. We need to lower class sizes and reduce the teachers' workload. Right now, teachers are being worked to death with the constant stress of too many papers and too much grading. The greatest asset a teacher has is time and there is never enough of it. There is a great scene in the film Mr. Holland's Opus when Mr. Holland tells an experienced teacher that he is going to write his great symphony during his spare time while teaching.