KUDOS to our own Joe Hirsch whose letter to the editor was printed in the Wall Street Journal鈥檚 opinion page this past weekend. For those of you who may have missed it, I鈥檓 including it here. Who said you need a doctorate in order to be published
Great Teachers Teach Students, Not Subjects
The best educators I know teach students, not subjects, and they actively nurture life-enhancing qualities like grit, teamwork and generosity.
Nov. 7, 2014 5:50 p.m. ET
4 COMMENTS
I鈥檓 a classroom teacher with two master鈥檚 degrees, and I鈥檓 working toward a doctorate. I appreciate Joel Klein 鈥檚 call for greater credentialing and certification in the profession (鈥淎 Lesson Plan for A+ Teachers,鈥 Review, Nov. 1). But his proposal to remake American teachers in the mold of their Finnish counterparts overlooks the most essential goal of education: to produce better human beings.
The best educators I know teach students, not subjects, and they actively nurture life-enhancing qualities like grit, teamwork and generosity. These virtues and others like them comprise the 鈥渢otal education鈥 of a child and should be prized by any teacher entering the field. They certainly won鈥檛 show up on one of Mr. Klein鈥檚 bar exams but are just as indicative of a teacher鈥檚 professional readiness as his or her mastery of material. Schools that are staffed by highly trained but morally ambivalent teachers will simply become grading factories, not goodness incubators. To be truly effective practitioners, teachers need standards that have soul.
Joe Hirsch
Dallas
