Kristof is right on the mark here (and scary statistics on the declining quality of our nation's teachers, though it's not just more career options for women -- though that's important -- nor is it that teachers are underpaid -- see attached chapter, "The Teacher Pay Myth," from Jay Greene's book, Education Myths.  A major reason is the crazy SYSTEM that, had one designed a system to discourage great people from going into it, this would be it: everything driven by seniority, no accountability, easy tenure, no financial rewards for excellence, etc.):

Let's relax the barriers so people can enter teaching more easily, either right out of college or later as a midcareer switch.

Sure, there are lots of other problems in the U.S. education system. But this is one of the easiest to solve.

One reason to act is that the U.S. faces a growing shortage of teachers. Just to keep student-teacher ratios where they are now, we need a 35 percent increase in the number of people entering teaching.

The other problem is that the quality of teachers is deteriorating, mostly because — fortunately! — women have more career options. A smart and ambitious woman graduating from college in 1970 often ended up as a third-grade teacher; today, she ends up as a surgeon or senator.

The upshot is that between 1971 and 1974, 24 percent of teachers had scored in the top 10 percent on their high school achievement tests. Now only 11 percent have done so.

So one study after another has concluded that it is time to relax teacher certification requirements.

--------------------------------

April 30, 2006

Op-Ed Columnist

Opening Classroom Doors

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

http://select.nytimes.com/2006/04/30/opinion/30kristof.html

Suppose Colin Powell tires of giving $100,000-a-pop speeches and wants to teach high school social studies. Suppose Meryl Streep has a hankering to teach drama.

Alas, they would be "unqualified" for a public school. Elite private schools would snap them up, of course, but public schools that are begging for teachers would have to turn them away because they don't have teacher certification.

That's an absurd snarl in our education bureaucracy. Let's relax the barriers so people can enter teaching more easily, either right out of college or later as a midcareer switch.