IBM begins program to encourage teachers

[Rose Siding]

Taking a step toward halting the decline of America's leadership in technology, IBM Corp. said Friday it will help veteran employees launch new careers teaching math and science.

IBM will provide employees with salaries and benefits while they take necessary courses to become teachers. It will also pay tuition costs up to $15,000.
.....
Many IBM employees have expressed interest in moving to second careers in teaching rather than leaving the company for full retirement, Litow said. The company will help employees enroll in the classes they need to become teachers and will help connect them with student teaching posts.
.....
A survey by Metropolitan Life found that 70 percent of employees above the age of 55 had some interest in starting a second career, Litow said. Other corporations are watching the pilot program with an eye toward offering similar programs for their employees, he added.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0509170212sep17,1,808050.story?coll=chi-business-hed

[valerief]

1. I wonder what the country the jobs will be in?

Phillipines? Malaysia? China? India? Pakistan? Iraq?

[nvliberal]

2. The LAST thing we need

are MORE people going into an overcrowded field, especially know-nothings who don't know anything about how to communicate with kids.

What needs to be done is employ already certified unemployed teachers in the hard-to-fill areas, and provide the means for those teachers to get certified in those fields.

This is done in my local school district with special education teachers.

[fishwax]

4. overcrowded?

I think nationally there's quite a teaching shortage, particularly in math/science ... a shortage that is only going to get worse in coming years ...

[donco6]

7. You know what I wish we had?

A federally funded program where we as district admin could encourage existing teachers to become endorsed in multiple areas - say a math teacher getting endorsed in science or vice versa. We have a lot of good teachers, and having multiple endorsements would make them so much more flexible in what they could teach. We've had many that have approached us with this idea, but we just don't have the money to release them or pay their tuition.

[nvliberal]

8. The media hype of a "teacher shortage" is a lie.

A brazen lie. Thanks to budget cutbacks all over the country, more and more teachers are out of work than ever.

There is a GLUT of teachers looking for work, including yours truly, who wants to go into special ed but does not have the credential yet.

The science and math "shortage" can be easily rectified by employing those teachers who are unemployed and putting them into programs getting them certified.

We should NOT be hiring people who aren't even in the field of education when there are so many teachers who want to work, but it's indicative of the mentality that teaching is an easy job that anybody can do.

Allegedly "knowing" science and math outside the field of education doesn't mean squat if these people can't communicate with kids.

[fishwax]

11. It's not been a lie in my experience

In Oklahoma and Texas, there are classes that are overloaded because they can't fill the positions for extra teachers. I think a big reason for this is that teachers are valued so little by society and have to put up with so much crap from administrators and parents that most young teachers entering the profession today burnout fairly quickly. I'm married to an excellent teacher, but when we moved to a new state and she was faced with the daunting task of certifying in a new state, has decided not to teach this year, and will be going into research instead. The situation will get more dire as teachers like my mother, with decades of experience, jump at their first chance to retire, being fed up with the BS of NCLB.

I agree with your point about "the mentality that teaching is an easy job that anybody can do," and I also agree that math/science skill doesn't mean squat if they can't communicate with kids, but if folks are motivated by a desire to help children and are willing to go through the process fo getting certified, I don't see it as a bad thing.

I wish you the best of luck with your job search ... I'm sure when you get the special ed credentials it should open doors, as I know of several communities where special ed positions are held open all year and never filled.

[mtnsnake]

3. Bingo! Anything like this that IBM is doing needs to be taken with a

grain of salt. Sam Palmisano, the CEO of that company, is as rightwing as it comes and a serious Bush supporter.

Besides, IBM recently tried to screw thousands upon thousands of retirees out of their pensions, so this is probably their way of keeping future retirees in the workplace, so they don't have to pay their pensions.

[valerief]

5. Thank you for not tinfoiling me because I'm a skeptic of

Big business's motives.

[mtnsnake]

10. No problem. BTW, you wanna know what IBMer's comeback is when

someone confronts them on the issue of sending so many jobs overseas? One word, they say: Globalization. I've got one word for that: Bullshit. The last thing these mega-companies are worried about is the welfare of poor countries in the world. They're really concerned about their own welfare, period.

[donco6]

6. Our experience with "Alternative Licensed" teachers . . .

We won't hire teachers anymore if they hold an "alternative" license (that is, a license awarded to someone with content knowledge, but no pedagological knowledge.) We've had more blowouts from these teachers than any other - so bad they had to be removed from the classroom after a month or so. When you've signed a contract with a teacher, it's an expensive proposition to replace one midyear. A contract teacher makes for a very expensive office paraprofessional.

I admire the sentiment - regardless of motive. I truly do. But in actuality, these people just aren't prepared for relating to kids in a classroom. Maybe there's some other training program that can be developed to help. I don't know. I just know we can't afford to take any more chances with them.

[nvliberal]

9. It isn't enough

to be an "expert" in a particular subject matter to be a good teacher; it is essential that people know how to impart that knowledge to kids.

It's not easy to do, and the mountains of paperwork, dealing with parents, and NCLB make teaching harder than ever.