I want to watch Waiting for Superman, the documentary that's just released in America.
This bit about the situation in America from a review of the documentary in New York Magazine drives home a harsh reality that is far more stark in the Indian context.
A real revolution in education will require a more foundational change-one that addresses the way in which the nation goes about turning people into teachers in the first place.
The ridiculousness of how we do it now is a bugbear of Geoff Canada's. "We say to these young people, 'We're going to make a deal with you,' " he explains. " 'We are not going to pay you a lot of money, but we are going to give you a lot of time off. You'll always get home before dark. You won't work weekends, and you'll have every summer off.' It's a terrible message we're sending that these perks come with their job. What kind of people does that attract to the profession?"
The answer to Canada's question is distressing and depressing. Whereas the best public-school systems in the world-Finland, Singapore, South Korea-recruit all of their teachers from the top third or better of their college graduates, in America the majority come from the bottom two-thirds, with just 14 percent of those entering teaching each year in high-needs schools coming from the upper third. And the numbers may be getting worse. According to a recent survey conducted by McKinsey, a meager 9 percent of top-third graduates have any interest in teaching whatsoever.
I think the corresponding numbers in India may be far worse. Much food for thought for us on how to address the challenges in India.
Here's a link to the McKinsey Survey referred to in the review - Closing the talent gap: Attracting and retaining top-third graduates to careers in teaching.
An earlier McKinsey report in 2007 titled How the world's best school systems stay on top summed up the challenge by stating "the quality of an education system can't exceed the quality of its teachers."
