The Next Generation of Educators

 I believe that my oldest son who is now a freshman in college would make a wonderful high school math or science teacher and coach. I have seen him work with younger children as a soccer coach and counselor . He is bright, compassionate , very understanding and understands the importance of being a part of a team. I wish I could encourage him to enter this wonderful field, however,  as a father looking out for his future  I am not sure if I can . He is one of I believe thousands of young people who one day would be able to be a positive influence on students and help them achieve their goals that we are losing due to politics and the lack of funding for schools.  I used to get a large amount of requests from colleges and universities hoping to place student-teachers in our building. In the past two to three years I have had only a handful of requests which to me is very discouraging. The lack of available positions due to the number of cutbacks and layoffs along with the NYS decision to implement a new retirement system has deterred future teachers from entering the field.
  Along with the budget cuts teachers are not as open to having student-teachers due to the number of assessments that we are giving to students during the course which are  used to evaluate the performance of the classroom teachers.  I am fortunate here at Hamagrael to have teachers who are willing to take on student teachers and help the next generation in their work. One teachers put it beautifully as she said that by taking on a student teacher you are paying back to the people who helped you along the way and took a chance to help you reach your goal of becoming a classroom teacher.
  I am bringing my son back to college this weekend after his winter break- I look forward to the trip and our discussions. Maybe I can bring the possibility up again about him being a teacher!