Where Have All the Teachers Gone?

Paperwork, assessment obsession, "backward design" (appropriately named), scripted lessons. The list goes on. What counts as important in education is the test, the data, the results, and a standard pathway to get those results. Regimentation, one might say. And, for me, it's the loss of teaching, the interaction, the dialogue, the shared humanity, the unplanned, teachable moment, the surprise, the abandoning of the lesson to address something important, the creative problem solving, the collaboration, and relationship one develops when lights are going on that marks the tragedy that is education now. In my particular situation, administrators have taken over the training of graduate teaching assistants. Time is now spent going over curriculum that is drawn from corporate textbooks, assessment and more assessment, and working backwards from the "outcomes." It's a top-down thing now. Grades are the thing. Any agency I had as a teacher and professional development leader, the "grass-roots" of teachers teaching teachers, has been squeezed into an afterthought of optional discussion. Not surprisingly, teachers who can, leave the profession. Burnout and attrition are high. Teacher preparation is low. We all know the litany. But where have they gone, all those lovely, bright lights, those passionate learners, the ones who loved to teach, the ones students loved? Where?