Blog Archive » 2007 » June

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Today's Washington Post highlights a well-known challenge that requires urgent action: the growing teacher shortage for the nation's K-12 schools. The situation will prove particularly acute for under-performing urban public school systems like the D.C. Public Schools where attrition of new teachers is high even as more senior teachers begin to retire.

Michael Alison Chandler's front-page article "Schools Pinched in Hiring" notes that teaching remains a profession dominated by women even as women have increasingly broad career options. While the article goes on to cite the challenges that teachers face under the "No Child Left Behind" requirements as a reason for some of the stress — teachers now feel obliged to teach to standardized tests rather than adapt lesson plans more closely to the needs and skills of their particular students — the article is somewhat silent on two other major challenges for the future of the teaching corps. One challenge is affordable housing in the urban core. The other challenge is the alarming decline in the proportion of men completing college.

The affordable housing crisis cannot be understated in thinking about solutions to the future workforce shortages for teachers, nurses, police and fire personnel, and other workers who do some of the most important service in our society. This morning I happened to drive past a new housing development near Fort Lincoln along South Dakota Avenue. "Luxury Townhomes from the $500's" boasted the many signs along the road, and they certainly did not mean five hundred dollars. This is not the only place in close-in Washington where the prices for new homes seem guaranteed to drive-out the middle class workers who run the city and provide essential services. Who can afford a $500,000 mortgage, or even the down payment? Certainly not a brand new teacher starting out her career at $50,000.

Raising salaries is one solution, to be sure, but wage increases will surely drive up other prices, including the price of college tuition since our salary scales have to rise above those of K-12 education. The spiral is well-documented. Urban policymakers who want to ensure a future quality of life for excellent teachers and other members of the essential workforce need to pay more attention to the housing crisis that is fueling the workforce shortage in skilled professions.

The other critical issue for the future workforce — not only teachers, but other skilled professions — is the declining proportion of male students enrolled in colleges and universities. Women are close to 60% of all undergraduates, and on many coeducational campuses the male population is now below 40%. We women's colleges can see a certain irony in this situation, having been founded back in the day when women were barred from admission to college. But we also know that as we encourage women to consider any and all professional opportunities today, the professions once considered 'women's work' are suffering — teaching and nursing being two examples.

One solution, of course, is to change the image of what is 'women's work' and 'men's work' in the minds of rising generations. Male and female students from all backgrounds need all options open to them, and no particular kinds of work should be off-limits by gender any more than we'd limit work horizons by race or culture.

And, while I disagree vehemently with those colleges and universities who are now giving preference to men in admissions (see U.S. News "Many Colleges Are Rejecting Women at Rates Drastically Higher than Those for Men" and in the New York Times "To All the Girls I've Rejected"), it is true that we must pay more attention to male completion of college degrees, and particularly among Black and Hispanic men where the completion rates are very low.

Trinity has long been a leader in teacher preparation for the Washingtion region, as well as the preparation of principals and guidance counselors. We have worked closedly with all regional private and public school systems, and nonprofit organizations such as New Leaders for New Schools and Teach for America. Our NCATE accreditation two years ago means that the reach of our certification can be nationwide. We will continue our historic emphasis on the preparation of excellent classroom teachers and hands-on administrators for schools in this region and around the nation even as we participate in the effort to find better solutions to the future needs of the teaching workforce.

Please share your ideas with me about these issues by clicking on the envelope below or send an email to president@trinitydc.edu

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Sunday, June 10, 2007

If the Girl Scouts ran Paradise, this is what it would be like: bright and sunny blue skies with high cumulus clouds, enough of a breeze to cool down the afternoon sun, plenty of red/white/blue popsicles and bags full of patches for trading, a spectrum of colorful T-shirts decorating the landscape from the base of the Washington Monument all the way to the edge of Constitution Gardens, and 200,000 girls, women and many good men singing "I Want to Be a Girl Scout" at the top of their lungs as if that were the coolest thing to be doing ever. This was the scene on Saturday at the Girl Scout Singalong on the Mall — an incredible sea of sheer wholesome goodness, great fun, mellow lingering, and songs that keep running over and over in your head long after the stage came down.

95 years ago, Juliette Gordon Low started "something for the girls" in Savannah, and the rest has been a century of remarkable history and future accomplishments. Millions of girls and women claim sisterhood through the Girl Scouts, and Saturday's Singalong on the Mall, a gigantic birthday party for this remarkable organization, revealed why the Girl Scouts remain the premier organizations for girls and women in the world: there is absolutely nothing pretentious about this organization — every single girl is accepted for who she is at whatever stage of development she joins, even if she's on the far side of 50 and can't hold a tune!

In an era when the role models for girls seem to be the hugely dysfunctional (Paris, Lindsay) or nearly impossibly powerful (Hillary, Condi), the Girl Scouts are real life. Troop leaders are moms and teachers, staff leaders are deeply devoted to the healthy development of the girls in their councils. Last weekend, thousands traveled from all over the country to do this one simply fun thing: have a picnic on the Mall and sing your hearts out. What a refreshing antidote to our contemporary culture's obsession with manufactured entertainment!

Unfortunately, the Washington Post's story today on the Singalong was needlessly snarky, making fun of the coveted Gold Award with an ill-informed (and sexist!) reference to the Boy Scouts top award, and implying that older Girl Scouts are not cool — how absurd! Had the Post reporter done a little homework, she would have learned that Gold Awards are held in high esteem by some very important audiences — colleges and universities, among others, such as Trinity where a Gold Award snags a scholarship worth $20,000 over a four year period (Trinity awards Girl Scout Scholarships to all Girl Scouts, and Silver and Gold Award scholarships earn extra premiums!).

The Post also failed to mention the Mother of the Singalong: Jan Verhage, executive director of the Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital, the largest Girl Scout council in the nation. Jan is one of the most brilliant organizational leaders I know, endlessly inventive, totally selfless, creative beyond anyone else's ability to imagine new things. She invented the Singalong on the Mall a decade ago. She also invented Camp CEO, the smartest method imaginable for getting women business executives involved with girls while also becoming committed to the Girl Scouts for life. Jan continuously re-invents the remarkably effective educational programs of Girl Scouting while building a fabulous business model to boot. Talk about a great role model for the girls! (That's Jan in the group photo of women above, second from the right, scolding me for taking her picture! She'd rather just have all photos of the girls…. Congratulations, Jan, on another great success!!)

To see more photos of the singalong visit the Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital.

I've also posted some of my photos here (password: rigabamboo)

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