Will the Conservatives promise to make teaching a noble profession real help

The idea has potential, but nothing is a sure thing. My wife even mentioned that they could try doing it like the military where you get free schooling in exchange for a certain amount of service. My personal opinion though, is that teachers aren't really the problem. Education starts at home. Every child should at least have rudimentary reading skills by the age of 5 and that happens long before kids enter the public school system. When a child enters school without the ability to spell his own first name, it leaves him at a disadvantage. Teachers are far too often blamed for poor students that have received little to know education from their parents prior to entering the public school system. The main reason people think private schools are better is that the kids there get better grades. The reason they get better grades is because the parents sending them there are far more involved in their education from childhood on.

This is a double edged sword. I do think teaching is a calling. But I also know some people who would have made GREAT teachers but did not go into it because the pay and benefits suck. When you are thinking about supporting a family or paying your bills, including your student loans, most want a job that pays decently. I remember when I was in high school and college I worked in a department store part time. A lot of teachers worked there part time at night and on the weekends trying to make ends meet. It is sad when a teacher has to work two jobs just to try and survive. Most teachers I know work another part time job. Which I do think keeps a lot of poeple out of the profession. Who wants to go through four years of college and then have to work two jobs in order to pay your bills. They get a degree in something else and then only have to work one job. Teachers need to be at least paid a living wage to where they don't have to work two jobs.

I for one believe teaching should be a calling not just a job. Here the problem with that idea... I don't believe simply because someone has the intelligence to teach and made high marks in their own school that that will present itself in their actual teaching of others. To teach you need patience and understanding and passion for what you are doing. To far too many teachers today teaching is only a job, one teacher I know actually told me she liked teaching so she could mold her students minds toward her own political beliefs... as she felt it was her way of saving them. This is very sad also no matter what your ideology. No I don't think that they should get their education paid for for simply that.

I have been in the educational system in the US for 26 years. Many of those years I was in a position to supervise teachers and to hire new ones. One of the things I looked for in a teacher was someone who had a passion for the subject matter and desire to share that passion with others. Those who achieved high grades did not always have the passion for the subject matter and/or the desire to share that passion. Too many teachers today are concerned with the money and benefits of the job and fail to see the satisfaction in the calling. One teacher I hired, and was criticized for it, said they had a passion for working with children and sought a way to work with them. She also had a passion for art so she decided to teach art and share her passion with others. She showed up at the interview without a portfolio of her work, she had never held her own show, nor had she sold any art work. Yet she had more students interested in art and learning more about different art styles. She was at school early so students could work on their art projects. She was involved in after school activities with the students. We need people like her in the teaching field and not the ones who are more concerned with work rules, pay and teaching loads. We need teachers who put the students first and not their wants and desires. We need those who want to see the students achieve and are willing to work with ALL children.

I am in favor more for merit pay for teahcers. Teachers that get results. I think then we will have a better education system.