This post went viral. Nancy Bailey points out that several Presidential candidates are “old,” compared to most teachers.
“Jeb Bush is 62. Hillary Clinton is 67. Donald Trump is 69 and Bernie Sanders is 73. If these individuals were teaching in a public school, and not famous politicians, what would you bet that they’d still be working?
“How many older teachers do you know who are still teaching? While there is much gnashing of teeth in the news about a teacher shortage, I don’t see any effort to bring elderly teachers back to the classroom. And by elderly I’d start at age forty (no, I don’t think 40 is old but they do!). Instead, they’d rather put someone in charge of a class who hasn’t earned credentials!…
“In 2013, The Guardian’s anonymous “Secret Teacher” column titled “There’s an Insidious Prejudice Against Older Teachers” describes a veteran teacher’s unsettling fear that Teach First, which sounds eerily like England’s version of Teach for America, was being highlighted as the answer to education problems—older teachers were cast as culprits….
“Today’s education reformers don’t want teachers who cost more, or who speak their mind about untested curriculum changes, who bitch about Common Core State Standards, high-stakes testing or crummy student treatment. They sure don’t want an elementary teacher who demands recess! Or, a high school teacher who remembers free advanced classes that didn’t rely on AP as a convoluted way to make money for the College Board!
“They don’t want teachers who will point to troubling outside corporate influence by those who are not teachers. In America, that would include people like Microsoft’s Bill Gates (59) or business entrepreneur Eli Broad (82)….
“Teachers who choose teaching as a profession and who want to be there for students—always—are critical. Students deserve to experience good teachers of all ages. But older teachers have been targeted for years. Even if they hang in there, most are not respected as they deserve.
“Their voices are ignored. Their valuable experience cast off. How often do they get to do original planning these days? How often do they have to put up with scripted, commercialized material foisted into their classrooms?…
“Today’s teaching workforce is built upon the desire on the part of education reformers to have transitory teachers. Here today, gone tomorrow! That is the way to keep costs down and teachers aligned to curriculum changes and charter school control.
“They will not build teachers who commit to students in a long-term career, who will strive to remain in teaching and do what is right and good to help students learn.
“And when students get older they won’t have any teachers to go back to visit. The older teachers just won’t be there.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
There was a time, in the UK at least, when people with outside world job experience were welcomed into the teaching profession, given grants and subsistence while they studied, so that everyone might benefit form a wider view.
LikeLike
Here’s a Guardian (from England, or the United Kingdom, to be precise) article from two years ago:
http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/oct/12/secret-teacher-prejudice-older-classroom-schools#comments
GUARDIAN:
———————————————————
“The Secret Teacher
Saturday 12 October 2013 02.00 EDT
“Until not so long ago I was a happy classroom teacher, with happy pupils in a happy school. A teacher who had been officially and consistently recognised as teaching successfully over a long period of time, by many different professionals – leaders and colleagues, visiting headteachers and Ofsted inspectors.
“Now, despite years of successful practice, I am feeling vulnerable and hunted.
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing and, looking back, I think I made my big mistake when I decided not to climb the greasy pole. Teaching was my vocation; I had come into it to be in the classroom with children and that’s where I wanted to stay.
“I wanted to be on the frontline and experience those exciting classroom dynamics, witnessing the magic of learning on a daily basis, first hand. It seemed that the further you rose in the ranks, the more you were removed from this. I had never been an overly-ambitious person and, as long as I was paid enough not to have money worries, I was content.
teacher network.
“Now I am an ‘older’ classroom teacher and I am stuck. There have been big changes in my school and my instincts tell me that I am being watched. I don’t think I’m being paranoid, I believe there is an unspoken and insidious prejudice against older classroom teachers in many, but not all, schools. In our age of blame, scapegoats need to be found and, being at the bottom of the pecking order, classroom teachers are an easy target – particularly the older ones. We often seem to be unfairly perceived as unmalleable or even as troublemakers, instead of as a rich asset.
“The hype about ‘Teach First” (that’s England’s version of Teach for America, I presume, Julie) doesn’t help this feeling of unease; Gove himself talks about the best generation of young teachers ever entering the profession. So it is no surprise to me to hear reports of a widespread exodus of older teachers leaving the profession. The Teach First programme would be all well and good, if existing teachers (of varied ages) felt equally valued.
“Politicians and policy advisers need to be careful about using divisive language. The implication at times is that Teach First graduates will be saving our children from existing useless teachers. I am sure many are fantastic and will become successful teachers or leaders in education.
“But, it should not be forgotten that there are already many fantastic and academically-gifted teachers working in the system. The best schools and heads know this and nurture this talent. Unfortunately there are many that don’t.
“So, why are my instincts telling me that I need to watch my back?
“Over the last 18 months, a tsunami of change, driven by fear, seems to have invisibly swept over many schools and classrooms. Mistakes in some schools are not tolerated and have frightening repercussions. These days I am increasingly less able to put on my smiling mask and carry out my job confidently.
“It seems that others know how to teach my students better than I. There is less fun and happiness in my class; micro-management means I have little autonomy and there is less capacity for creativity in my lessons. My confidence has diminished and everything seems more clinical and – dare I say it – more boring.
“Apparently this is what children need to progress academically. Currently I am still being judged favourably for such practice but, in spite of this, I don’t feel secure. We’re all just two observations away from capability. I am in a straightjacket, prevented from doing my job to the best of my ability, according to my knowledge and experience.
“In fact, my experience counts for nothing and no one seeks my opinion. Looking around the staffroom at my excellent colleagues sometimes makes me tearful – all that knowledge and experience going to waste, untapped and unappreciated. All decisions are top down and many are ludicrous.
“I am hanging on by my fingernails but I don’t know how long I can do this for. There’s no point moaning or resisting – that just saps precious energy levels. I have to keep a low profile and survive; times have changed and my family depend upon my shrinking income. It is this knowledge that makes my stomach churn nervously more and more during the working day.
“I acknowledge my current exhausting existence is mostly my fault. I made my choices to remain in the classroom. But I am at a loss to know what I have done wrong in the eyes of those in power. I constantly try to imagine myself through their eyes and can only think that I should present as a hardworking, positive member of staff who gets good results.
“The true irony is that, as teachers, we seek to boost our pupils’ sense of self worth and value to equip them for a positive life, yet ours are being trampled on.
“The injustice eats away at me if I let it. I know what my cynical friends tell me:
” ‘ Wake up, it’s all about money!’
“Reluctantly, my suspicion is that they are right. Although I am far from overpaid, I am more expensive that a young, inexperienced teacher. With the onset of performance-related pay, I sense this is about to change dramatically.
“So, my working life is no longer happy. It is constantly overshadowed by worry and a sense of forthcoming career-ending doom.
“Theoretically, I have many more years to teach before retirement. My friends and I are desperately looking for ways to get out of teaching. I feel sad for upcoming teachers – some, who are choosing this job for the right reasons, will not have an opportunity to experience the true wonder and joy that being a teacher can offer. At least I’ve had that.
“Teaching these days is a hard and fast career, not a vocation.
“This week’s Secret Teacher works at a primary school in London.”
LikeLike
Bailey is 100% on target.
An Old Teacher
LikeLike
Same goes for state departments of education. It is very much in vogue to get rid of real educators and to hire and promote TFAers.
LikeLike
“Jeb Bush is 62. Hillary Clinton is 67. Donald Trump is 69 and Bernie Sanders is 73. If these individuals were teaching in a public school, and not famous politicians, what would you bet that they’d still be working?”
In these United states 18.8% of all teachers are over 55 years old.
LikeLike
Raj –
Just curious where you are getting your info – if the following is it, it’s from 2007-2008 – doubt very much that those numbers are still true today!
https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009324/tables/sass0708_2009324_t12n_03.asp
LikeLike
It might be this table from 2011-12
https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/tables/sass1112_2013314_t1s_002.asp
A quick look gives New Hampshire the highest share of teachers over 55 years of age at a little more than one out of every four teachers and Delaware the lowest with 12.8% of teachers over the age of 55. It is useful to note that about 15.1% of the US population age 55 to 74.
LikeLike
I got the most recent data for year 2012 at https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/tables/sass1112_2013314_t1s_002.asp
LikeLike
And…..what does one draw from that?
What’s the age range for teaching, 22-65? Even distribution, 55-65 would be 23.3%
Certainly backloaded retirement plans incent people to stay until the end for maximum return, where they might make the choice to leave if the retirement payout was equally loaded per year and portable.
LikeLike
TC,
You can see the age distribution in the table I linked to above. Overall there are a higher percentage of teachers over the age of 55 than under 30. The states with the largest differences are Maine (27% of teachers over 55, 10.8% under 30), Washington (26% of the teachers over 55, 9.7% under 30), Vermont (28.6% of the teachers over 55, 10.7% under 30), New Mexico (24.2% of teachers over 55, 5.6% under 30 but the 5.6% is not thought to be accurate) and California (23.7% of teachers over the age of 55, 9.1% under 30)
LikeLike
401K plans are equally loaded and portable. A majority of private sector employees have this plan. What the teachers don’t have is the ability to move. If you cannot move portability is not a valuable asset.
LikeLike
401k’s have failed as a viable retirement plan and left workers with little to show after years of contributions. What good is portability if there is no return on investments?
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwasik/2013/04/24/why-401ks-have-failed/
“The 401(k) plan was never meant to be a mainstream pension plan and is a poor substitute for one. It’s a voluntary program that was intended to supplement retirement savings – one of those quirky little options in the byzantine tax code that employers seized upon as a way to save money while pretending that they were doing the right thing by their employees.”
LikeLike
I wonder what the range and average age of teachers was in Washington D.C. before and after Michelle Rhee rode in and out on her broom. The big cities’ schools have been hit hard in the last 20 years by her cronies’ Amazon-Microsoft mentality. (She’s here in California now. Michelle Rhee is, gulp, here. Please send help! And water… S.O.S.! She needs tape on her mouth and we’re all too sun soaked out here to do it.)
LikeLike
Under Deasy in LAUSD, there was a coordinated effort to drive out the oldest, and yes, highest paid teachers. 93% of the teachers in “teacher jail”—ovewhelmingly on false charges—were 50 and over. One union official who visited a teacher jails said, “It was like going to an A.A.R.P. meeting.”
That doesn’t even take into account those older teachers who have yet to be placed in teacher jail that are being harassed by the Deasy-ite adminstrators. The message that is sent to older teachers—by the discriminatory teacher jail and this coordianted harassment—is ….
LEAVE!!!! WE DON’T WANT YOU HERE ANYMORE!!!
LikeLike
It would be interesting to know the percentage of teachers that are or were in teachers jail. It will shine a light on this perceived discrimination.
I know in the private sector every employee who is terminated gets a database table showing the ages of all employees in the company as well as the ages of all employees that are being terminated. Names are not included in this data table to protect privacy. This is the current federal law. That is how employees aged 50 or over are protected. I am surprised to see comments in these columns that assume or state that the LAUSD violates Federal laws.
Some one needs to check this out instead of using anecdotal evidence and generalizing it.
If the LAUSD has done this they must be taken to task. I doubt this since the unions(UTLA, NEA and AFT) are not pursuing this issue, they must know better.
LikeLike
Spot on, for once. Transparency from LAUSD on teacher jail and hiring/firing practices would be “interesting”. LAUSD abiding by law would be “interesting” too. I guess that’s why the FBI has to investigate and class action lawsuits have to be filed.
LikeLike
How nice to sit back and, with no proof at all ,call the damage done to hundreds of veteran teachers ‘perceived discrimination’. Data has been collected from teacher jail that clearly supports age and racial discrimination in teacher jail. I perceive that your arrogant attitude towards this real abuse has never happened to you. Pray that it doesn’t, it’s a humbling experience that shouldn’t be imposed on educators who just wanted to teach as a profession.
LikeLike
“I know in the private sector every employee who is terminated gets a database table showing the ages of all employees in the company as well as the ages of all employees that are being terminated.”
Yet again you are plain old, flat out wrong. That simply isn’t true. Which really makes me wonder what you do know about this private sector you seem to think so highly of.
LikeLike
Raj, you are terribly misinformed. There might be federal law as you mention, but no one follows it. Probably a formality and a sheet of paper stuffed in the back of some folder by HR. There are NO protections for older workers. In the private sector, you are terminated, security escorts you like a criminal, and the door hits your a– on the way out. Age discrimination is everywhere and practiced freely and openly in hiring, promotion, and firing. All power rests with employers who treat older workers like dirt, no matter how effective you are. Companies do not want quality. They want cheap, naïve, and malleable drones.
LikeLike
Dear Raj,
For your reading pleasure, here’s Leonard Eisengerg’s recent article, which encompasses the whole age-ism issue, and teachers being fired merely for being paid a high salary:
—————————————
Unjustly jailed LAUSD teacher and anti-teacher jail activist Lenny Eisenberg recently seems confident that LAUSD may finally be facing “judgment day” with the Geragos-Esquith lawsuit:
http://www.perdaily.com/2015/08/are-we-finally-getting-closer-to-lausds-judgment-day.html
————————————-
“ARE WE FINALLY GETTING CLOSER
TO LAUSD’S JUDGMENT DAY?”
by
Leonard Eisenberg
On Thursday August 13, 2015 the law firm of Geragos & Geragos filed a detailed 91-page Cause of Action on behalf of nationally acclaimed Hobart Elementary school teacher Rafe Esquith against the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Esquith Complaint (Conformed).pdf
Click to access Complaint-Conformed.pdf
More specifically—and in addition to suing LAUSD as a legal entity—the lawsuit also names as individual defendants Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines, Chief Legal Officer David R. Holmquist, and 50 “John Doe’s” to be subsequently named after they are identified through the discovery process—a process now open to the plaintiffs to finally compel LAUSD administrators and others to testify under oath and tell the truth, or face serious and costly—-both financial and personal—legal consequences for failing to do so.
In filing this lawsuit, the Geragos firm is in for a pleasant surprise, since it will soon find as the case unfolds, that LAUSD and its corrupt and long-bullying administration have literally made no attempt to cover up any of their reprehensible behavior toward Esquith, or. for that matter, toward any of its other unjustly targeted employees. Indeed, literally nobody in LAUSD administration has every possessed any “good faith” belief that the vast majority of teachers whom they have targeted have actually done anything wrong.
Rather, to quote Marlon Brando’s Vito Coreleone in THE GODFATHER, what will become perfectly clear is that in LAUSD’s treatment of its teachers, “It’s just business.”
As the trial progresses, LAUSD’s usual stall tactics—the ones that have served them so well against defenseless teachers abandoned by their union, United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA)—will fail miserably against a Geragos law firm with the bank and legal brilliance to go against LAUSD (and its law firm, Sedgwick… DREW)toe-to-toe for the long run. (Geragos successfully defended Michael Jackson, you might recall… DREW)
At this point, it will become abundantly clear—in this first neutral forum to dispassionately exam LAUSD’s claims against its senior teaching staff—that the charges in the vast majority of cases are completely fabricated, and based exclusively on the totally illegal motive of targeting teachers who are:
1) at the top of the salary scale;
2) and/or about to vest in expensive lifetime health benefits;
3) and/or disabled;
4) and/or teachers like Esquith who stood up against ill-conceived and often downright illegal programs adopted and implemented by LAUSD.
Simply stated, LAUSD’s witch hunt has been about money, and has had nothing to do with “child safety,” as claimed by both Superintendent Cortines, and by his predecessor, the now-Broad-Foundation-employee John Deasy. In this light, I cannot help but wondering if John Deasy might also be one of the to-be-named “John Doe’s 1-50” in this lawsuit.
Furthermore, as more evidence is gathered in the Esquith case, a class action suit against LAUSD is likely to be filed, or at the very least, many more lawsuits against LAUSD like Esquith’s will be filed, since a pattern and practice of LAUSD’s illegal behavior will clearly emerge.
What it will show is that literally thousands of other certificated or classified staff were either forced into early retirement, or brought up on knowingly false charges by bullying LAUSD administrators and their coerced subordinates.
The point at which this case is likely to break wide open is when some of the coerced administrators or investigators (“Virgil County”?… depose him first … DREW) finally speak up to save themselves, coming clean about how they knowingly—and with malice aforethought, at the behest of, or under threat from their superiors—then went after and destroyed the careers of completely innocent teachers. Some candidates from whom Geragos’ firm might choose to take depositions are those presently being fired by Superintendent Cortines.
In the pleading filed by Geragos & Geragos on behalf of Rafe Esquith, there are allegations and descriptions of clearly illegal activity on the part of LAUSD, ignoble transgressions which literally thousands of targeted teachers can definitively substantiate, and which LAUSD has literally no evidence to counter.
In fact, the evidence clearly and convincingly substantiates what the Esquith lawsuit states:
1. No exculpatory evidence of teacher innocence or good behavior was allowed to remain in the teacher’s file, as part of a one-sided process which was only designed to ultimately get rid of the teacher;
2. Teachers were systematically submitted to “psychological torture” in long-term “teacher jail” incarceration, a heinous practice that not only had no reason to exist in a purposefully protracted “investigation process,” but which was ultimately dispensed with even before LAUSD decided to resurrect it against Rafe Esquith;
3. In complete derogation of the legal standard which had been put in place in response to the tragic McMartin Preschool case in the 1980’s—where all the McMartin teachers and administrators were ultimately found to be completely innocent of any wrongdoing—and, as a result, clear rules were firmly established as to the following:
— a) exactly what permission was needed to be obtained from parents prior to that parent(s)’ child being questioned (again… depose “Virgil County” and Jose Cantu first on this one…. DREW);
— b) who was qualified to question impressionable students (again… depose “Virgil County” and Jose Cantu first on this one…. DREW); and
— c) the neutrality of the questions being asked, so as to prevent the interviewer from leading a highly impressionable youth’s responses to a preconceived result (again… depose “Virgil County” and Jose Cantu first on this one…. DREW).
In the Esquith case, and in literally thousands like it, LAUSD administrators purposefully chose to ignore these legal standards…
— in their interrogation of students without parents’ permission;
— where leading and presuppositional questions were asked of children, manipulative questions that suggested and led to the predetermined answers sought by people asking them—in this case principals or other LAUSD personnel;
and
— where those people interviewing those children were completely unqualified to question the students, and, as a result, they improperly and illegally manipulated them to provide false testimony.
4. And in typical bully behavior, any attempt by Esquith or other targeted teachers to defend themselves against clearly fabricated and disproven charges was met with LAUSD next tactic—its long-established and verifiable practice of simply piling on more and more serious charges that inexplicably were never brought until the teacher tried to defend themselves.
But there might just be a silver lining to the regrettable situation in which LAUSD now finds itself.
When one looks at the likely astronomical damages in the billions that LAUSD faces from the Esquith case and from the thousands likely to follow, maybe LAUSD can take a page from the City of Detroit bankruptcy in making lemonade out of its lemons.
If LAUSD is ultimately forced into bankruptcy, they might just get out of ALL their contractual liability for wages, benefits, and retirement programs, which, after all, seems to have been the reason they started the witch hunt against senior certificated and classified employees in the first place back in 2006.
If you or someone you know has been targeted, and are in the process of being dismissed, and need legal defense, get in touch.
(Leonard Isenberg is a Los Angeles observer and a contributor to CityWatch. He’s a second generation teacher at LAUSD and blogs at perdaily.com.)
LikeLike
By the way, embattled teacher Rafe Esquith, age 61, would have been starting his 33rd year on Tuesday. He’s at over $90,000 /year,when you include the recent raise. His age/salary is part of the story of the LAUSD witch hunt and persecution under way against him.
Also, one commenter Cheryl Ortega is one of LAUSD’s current School Board President Steve Zimmer’s good friends, going back 24 years. They’ve taught at the same school, I believe. She made this comment to the ageism article (the subject of this thread) about corporate reformer and former LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy:
———————————————–
Cheryl Ortega says
August 16, 2015 at 3:33 pm
John Deasy at a Teach Plus presentation to an audience whose average age was about 25:
“It is ridiculous for anyone to think of teaching for more than 5 years before they move on to a real career.”
LikeLike
I wonder if there was any collusion by LAUSD John Does with Eli and his Broad Academy. I’m no Geragos, but I surely would like to see Broad pay for his behavior. I hope Rafe is well. I also hope Eli Broad winds up named in the suit.
LikeLike
They fabricate a charge against you, and then you NEVER teach again whether you are fired or forced to resign thanks to the blackballing questions that are on most teacher applications.
LikeLike
Ageism is a reality in education not just for teachers but administrators too- I am a retired Elementary Principal, with still much to offer in terms of wisdom about school culture; yet, my former district never calls on me or seems to value that wisdom and expertise. A sad commentary.
LikeLike
Diane, can you please give us the link to the original post? Thanks!
LikeLike
I got it. http://nancyebailey.com/2015/08/16/teacher-age-discrimination-during-a-so-called-teacher-shortage/
LikeLike
Thanks!
LikeLike
I’ve been a public school parent a long time (because my kids are so spread out in age,) and I have never known “less experience= better!” to be the conventional wisdom among parents.
I definitely see why they would want to push older teachers out- pay scale and probably health care costs, too- even healthy older people spend more on healthcare than younger people- but do parents agree with this? That hasn’t been true where I live. It isn’t just “experience is better”- it’s relationships and track record. The first thing my son’s english teacher said to him when he went up to her at open house was “I had your brothers and sister”. He just beamed. I think it makes him feel like she knows something about him, and that’s true- she does. She knows his siblings.
LikeLike
“I’ve been a public school parent a long time (because my kids are so spread out in age,) and I have never known “less experience= better!” to be the conventional wisdom among parents.”
That’s because it isn’t “the conventional wisdom among parents.” Parents aren’t stupid.
However, it is the “conventional wisdom” among the money-motivated privatizers who want to destroy, then rape-and-pillage public education.
And that’s only for “other people’s kids”, mind you… that of the middle and working classes. Those elite privatizers still send their own children to expensive private schools where the conventional wisdom is that that experience does matter. Those school boast of having the majority of their teachers with decades of experience, having developed their considerable skills elsewhere before being hired.
LikeLike
You’re right, teachers used to stay at one school and therefore taught many generations of kids and their parents. Teachers liked the communities they worked in even though they weren’t wealthy ones, they had our students and we respected that. Now, how many teachers will be able to establish those types of relationships. They will be truly missed.
LikeLike
As a 69 year old who just completed a job search for a teaching job this year, I know there is ageism out there. I even had one assistant principal at a Middle School ask me what he called his “John McCain – Bernie Sanders” question – would I have enough energy to teach middle schoolers? I guess we will find out since I am in an inner city middle school and will see my students on August 31. The leadership in the school where I am working neither cared that I will be older than all the other teachers and than the administrators (although both the principal and executive director are far closer to me in age than they are to most of the other teachers). Oh, and they also did not care that I am white in a school where probably all of our students will be black and where for now I am the only white teacher.
FWIW, I had a guarantee of another position that also did not care about my age. But then, that was in a district where I had taught for 16 years and won several teaching awards, so they were more interested in my quality as a teacher.
I have been older than the last three presidents, in the case of Bush and Clinton by months. Bernie or Joe Biden are probably the last remaining possibilities for someone to be President who is older than me.
As far as older teachers – some are younger in spirit and more energetic than those several decades younger. We should be treated as individuals.
The question is sometimes not so much ageism as it is salaryism – we have more experience, we therefore cost more. And since we know and understand education we represent a threat of serious opposition to those trying to lead/push the “reform” agenda and often have the ability to influence both parents and younger teachers.
LikeLike
Your school is fortunate to have a veteran teacher with strong skills. Have a great year!
LikeLike
tken, Hope you & students have a fulfilling year. Curious why you chose the position in new school rather than district where you were known.
You make excellent points re “salaryism” and spirit/energy not necessarily linked to chronological age.
LikeLike
My fgormer district, which would have paid me about 20K more, had no social studies openings but so wanted me were prepared to hire me either for music (I only need elementary methods to be certified) or for middle school English (which I have taught before), for one year, then switch me to social studies the following year. But I have been in 4 different schools the past four years and I wanted to be in a place where I knew I was going to stay for a while. Plus I had had extended conversations with the executive director, and as it turns out my principal and I have a number of overlaps, including the same mentor, and including the fact her son, whom I taught in I think 1998-99, told her I was the best teacher he’d ever had. I think they want me 🙂
LikeLike
You made me smile, but with tears in my eyes.
Yes, it is so challenging to those of us with a lifetime of valuable teaching experience, and life experience, to be rejected due to our number of birth years. When I read the many insightful comments here, I often wonder what we could all accomplish if we older educators could be in leadership as to the design and implementation of our public schools.
Good luck Ken…please keep us oldies and still goodies, informed of your daily adventures when you start your new teaching gig.
LikeLike
That’s the model of the National Writing Project: teachers as collaborative peer-educators, where staff development is an on the job collaboration among the staff, and older teachers are facilitators and coordinators. That’s also how good curriculum is created, by collaboration within the staff, not by buying “programs” or “packages” from corporations. Actually, it’s also the same for technology: we’ll go open-source and do it all ourselves, thank you.
LikeLike
Ellen, your students are very, very lucky to have a teacher with your experience and wisdom! Warm regards to you!
LikeLike
I am saddened that a person of your obvious ability experienced this, teacher Ken. You’ve clearly spent a lifetime learning your subjects and your craft, and your students doubtless benefit immeasurably from both.
LikeLike
Not a lifetime, Bob. I began in 1995-96 school year, when I was 49, after 20+ years with computers and a number of years doing other things
LikeLike
You are spot on about the treatment of older teachers. Older teachers are not given good assignments even with seniority in many of our union contracts. By the time you grieve violations of seniority, if your Union even handles grievances any more, the school year is over and the issue is moot. I have seen new teachers arrive and get all their preferred classes every year while older teachers get the leftovers. This happens in inner city schools more and to veteran teachers of color more. Why this is significant is that veteran teachers used to be the mentors of new teachers and taught them the ropes so to speak. Now, these five wk trained teachers come in believing that they know more than veteran teachers. They don’t. That’s why they leave the job in such high numbers. Teaching is a process where you learn how to be a better teacher. Very few of us come to this profession whole.
LikeLike
Yes, Paula…at LAUSD, it is reported that 45% of those in teacher jail are over 45 years of age, and are of color, most with benefits about to vest.
LikeLike
Ellen,
The table I linked to does not break down the percentage of teachers older than 45, but 36.3% of all teachers in California are at least fifty years of age, while 54.5% are between 30 and 49. It seems reasonable that 45% of all teachers in California are at least 45 years of age.
LikeLike
Age discrimination in the Chicago Public Schools affects those wanting to become principals. A couple of years ago, I was on my school’s principal selection committee, and the vast majority of CPS “approved” candidates were in their early 30s with limited classroom experience.
LikeLike
This article is right on the mark. I thought I would be respected as an older teacher, because when I was a young teacher I always respected the older teachers. I asked them lots of questions and would stop in their classrooms and ask for advice. Something has definitely changed in our profession and society. A few young teachers still make me feel valued, but on the whole, I feel the higher ups are putting up with me until they can replace me with two cheaper teachers. I put in so many overtime free hours along with spending so much of my own money, but I still feel they want to see younger teachers in the hallway. Somehow, older teachers are viewed as “disgusting.”
We all know everyone ages, but teaching is a profession which now looks down on the veterans. It is sad, but so true. It is like we somehow do not know how to teach or know what we are doing anymore. We are viewed as if we are slackers and do not deserve our paycheck. It is viewed that we need to be fired. I would never recommend any gifted young person to sign up for this abuse. Time stops for no one. I also think that fewer and fewer teachers will be able to make it to retirement with the unfair policies of value added and the evaluation system. I am thankful to God. I am truly blessed to be able to almost cross the finish line in this abusive career.
LikeLike
Let’s not forget that in their push to lower labor costs, older teachers cost districts more money. Many districts now prefer (unfortunately) either 2 year TFA corps members or short timing newbies who will, in all likelihood, quit before 5 years, stay cheap, and not vest in a pension to be paid at a later date.
In addition, old-timers are more likely to be pro union and fight for their collective bargaining rights. Newbies are far less likely to do that.
LikeLike
This is not news. The barn door is off its hinges and the horses are gone. We can bemoan our fate and the fate of our profession but the truth is that NEA and AFT and the various locals are bought and paid for and their purpose is no longer to protect teachers. Laugh or cry about it but it’s too late. Once Pearson, Gates, Walton and the rest of these privateers recoup their investments there might be scraps left for our public education system. This will take about 60 years. I’d love to be wrong but without the support of the NEA and AFT at the national level the program of looting our public schools will proceed without impediment.
LikeLike
Michael P Dominguez,
You are right on all counts.
LikeLike
Do you mean our taxes are being skimmed by companies like Pearson under the cover of testing?
LikeLike
“Skimmed” is hardly the word–extorted, diverted, and wasted are the best terms for the current mania for testing, creating the lost opportunity costs for creative uses of computers in schools by making all of kids’ time with devices about testing or preparing to be tested. As Canadian educator Joe Bower says, “Assessment is not a spreadsheet–it’s a conversation.”
http://www.joebower.org/
A colleague quoted herself to an administrator whose prescription for a student did not make sense to her, “You’re looking at numbers on a piece of paper. I know this student.”
LikeLike
At the ripe old age of 61, I am now the oldest or next to oldest in my department–of thirty-five teachers! The members of the gray-haired set are few and far between…
LikeLike
I’ve enjoyed reading all of your comments. This year I have 12 students in which I also had their mom or dad at the very same grade level years ago. It is so much fun, because I am able to share with them a very special part of their family history. My students ask me lots of questions about their parents, and it is a precious time for all of us. It is sad to know that more and more lifetime community career teachers, like myself, will become a part of the past.
LikeLike
I was one of the older teachers pushed out. I have some satisfaction seeing the debacle that is now happening. However, I feel very sad for the students. I was pushed out because I fought for my students to receive the help they needed for learning disabilities, counseling for emotional/behavioral problems, etc. The last few years I taught, the more difficult it was to get them the assistance they needed. If I had it to do again, I would do the same. Most of us do get into teaching to make a difference. I have no regrets. I only hope I live long enough to see things turn for the better.
LikeLike
The education biz is every bit as driven by fads as the high fashion industry is. It amuses me to no end, for example, that Common Core proponents act as though they had discovered close reading and evidence-based discussion of texts. That they do shows how wet behind the ears they are–how completely clueless they are about the many forms that close reading has taken in the two-thousand-year-old history of rhetoric.
In some schools, there are young, newly minted administrators who are all about the fads–all about what’s new on the education midway this carnival season, and these folks have little appreciation for what a seasoned educator–one who has spent a lifetime learning his or her subject and craft–brings to the classroom. Such administrators want kids in front of their classrooms–newbies who can be scripted and otherwise micromanaged. I am fortunate to teach in a school where that is not the case, where the learning that I bring to the classroom is appreciated.
Teaching is the most demanding job I’ve ever done. It takes a lot of in- and outdoor schooling to learn how to do it well. I think that most of us who have been around a bit recognize that when we were baby teachers, we were TERRIBLE. I do my best to help the newbies because I understand that most of them will be close to drowning for the first few years. The ones who don’t perceive themselves to be drowning, during those first few years, are the ones who need the most help because they are completely clueless.
LikeLike