It would be nice to believe all teachers are hard working, competent, and dedicated. Most educators fit that description, but as in every profession, there is mediocrity as well.Having mediocre teachers “in the system” may be symptomatic of our culture. That is, what was once considered substandard is now considered acceptable. What was once merely average is now above average or excellent. When this social atmosphere prevails, true excellence is feared and must be challenged. If this is the same culture by which criteria are established for measuring competence, it is not difficult to see how it is partly to blame for mediocrity being protected — maybe even being undetectable.
Mediocrity can result from institutionalized incentive programs, too. Teachers have lifetime job security, and their pay is based on salary schedules that have nothing to do with talent, effort, success, or even on how much students learn. Great teachers are rewarded only if they leave teaching for other careers whereas mediocre teachers stick around knowing their weak performance is tolerated.
Another possible explanation for mediocrity is the education system itself. It teaches to the middle and sets goals no higher than average. And, if you were to watch mediocre teachers, the message is often in the nonverbal cues they convey — the way they enter the room, where they stand, how they engage the pupils, the use of insecure gestures, poor classroom positioning, and even the failure to smile. Seldom is it in how much knowledge they have.
Because the clues are, generally, nonverbal, students can judge the quality of a teacher within ten seconds of seeing them, and their judgments tend to be consistently correct.
The question is, to what extent is the mediocrity of teachers harmful to the education of students? One could argue that average is all right since it is so much better than substandard. What the system needs to do is rid itself of the lousy teachers, offer modest retention bonuses to the mediocre, and compensate excellence with pay raises, sabbaticals, free education, available and well-marked parking spaces, quality students, and other perks.
One of the problems may be with expectations. Should parents expect our educational system to turn every child into a genius? Should education be responsible for unleashing each child’s true potential? I don’t think it’s being cynical to mention that most students are average (half above and half below), and many — its true — are likely to grow up to be truck drivers and WalMart clerks. They will play video games, watch TV six hours a day, and surf the Internet— once their true potential has been unleashed, of course.
Our society has become obsessed with the illusion that everyone is special. Every one has some talent, genius, or brilliance that has been unfairly suppressed, and it is the responsibility of education, and teachers as the stewards of that precious commodity, to coax, prod, and goad it out of them. We could become a nation of gods, they believe, if only we had better teachers!
One point that is missed in all of this is that our teachers — mediocre or not — are far better than most students could ever utilize. Even mediocre teachers can offer more knowledge of higher quality than 90 percent of their students can absorb. Giving students a mediocre education is far better than teaching them answers to standardized tests. It was Robert Hutchins who said, “It must be remembered that the purpose of education is not to fill the minds of students with facts...it is to teach them to think, if that is possible, and always to think for themselves.”
The goal of education must always be recruiting quality teachers who can get students to think. The problem is simply that judging whether or not future teachers have this ability is like judging — before a marriage — whether or not a future partner will be satisfactory.
There must be more in-school training, more observation, more focus on the micro-skills of teaching. We can better utilize technology to coach and analyze what goes on within and beyond classrooms. With digital technology we can record then freeze-frame and analyze body language — how potential teachers use gestures, intonation, facial expressions, and eye contact — verbal mannerisms, as well as the proxemics of both trainee and established teachers. Why not have experienced teachers who are considered “master teachers” use microphones to coach and give trainees who are equipped with earpieces, instant advice and feedback just as it occurs in sports? Why wait until the end of lessons for retrospective, stale advice?
There need to be far more observations of trainees by a wide variety of teachers, and not just those who teach the same subject. Why not create a cradle-to-grave approach to staff development that expects career progression from all staff members beginning from their earliest years? Those who dare to teach must never cease to learn. Potential teachers must visit a variety of teachers to see how lessons are taught, knowledge conveyed, classroom interaction occurs, and students are challenged.
Performance management must focus on the skills teachers need to make them better teachers rather than on the hoops they need to jump through to get more pay or higher rank. Also, cradle-to-grave approaches to staff development should not just recognize the essential skills and experiences of older staff but use them — even retired “master teachers” — to mentor and tutor rookies.
William Arthur Ward, the educator, author, poet, pastor, and motivational speaker, said, “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” I contend that with cradle-to-crave approaches to staff development, all of these can be contained in a single teacher — not four separate individuals. There are times for telling just as there are times for explaining, demonstrating, and inspiring. We need to recruit quality teachers, true, but we need to train them, too, to strive for quality because to teach is to touch lives forever.
A great article about mediocre teachers:
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:cuoO8CmFcvwJ:www.nctq.org/nctq/research/1135269588003.pdf+mediocre+teachers&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
“Outstanding Teachers Share Tips for Success,” is an essay written for The Honolulu Advertiser, and it can be found at: http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Nov/18/ln/ln09p.html The tips here are from Katherine Nakamura and Clyde Hashimoto, and the article is written by Treena Shapiro, the Advertiser’s writer on education. These are great tips and useful for every teacher.
Contact Richard L. Weaver II
I have felt this way for a while - it's nice to see that I am not alone in feeling that "aiming for mediocrity" is not only okay but celebrated!
ReplyDeleteHi Mr. Ryan. Thanks for your comment. At times, it seems, in our society as a whole there is a "rush toward mediocrity." You could even call it a "dumbing down of everything." Standards and expectations are no longer what they were in the past, and, as the essay notes, even the yardsticks by which we measure excellence have been shortened. It is difficult to know how far it will go; it is even more difficult to figure out how to stop the trend.
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