SB: On January 3rd, 2002 Representative George Miller told The Sacramento Bee that "for too long, states and school districts have looked the other way as they've hired people who are unqualified." What do you think of this statement?
WJ: His statement implied that state and schools are doing that because they want to, which is absurd. They’re hiring people to fill empty positions that they’re having great difficulty filling. That’s the reason teachers are teaching outside their subject matter area. I like Miller. He’s a very strong supporter of public schools. But he’s either displaying a great deal of ignorance or not being truthful when he makes statements like that.
WJ: This year there are 42,000 emergency permit teachers in California, and many are teaching outside of their subject matter area, especially in math and science. How do you resolve that? A recent study shows the large percentage of people who left teaching. I was really surprised and not surprised, to find that the number one reason for people leaving teaching is stress. So we have to start attacking why 30% of all new teachers quit within three years of teaching and 50% within five years. That is the key point—to stop this tremendous hemorrhaging of teachers. And the state will need 300,000 new teachers in the next ten years.
How do you relieve the stress that drives teachers from the profession? The comments that I read indicated that the teachers didn’t feel they had control over their profession. They felt like assembly line workers. Incompetence by the school administration also created stress. How do we run the school? Maybe teachers should have a lot more say over what they’re doing, instead of treating them like they’re working at a laundromat.
You also have to look at the compensation. A lot of young people go into teaching and discover that they’re never going to be able to own a home or a new car on their salaries. The mayor of San Jose tells of tremendous problems recruiting teachers because teachers can’t afford even to rent in the area. Teachers who bought homes were commuting 60 miles. Teachers’ salaries have to improve.
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Last year, 93% of white kids graduated from high school. But only 63% of Latino kids did.
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SB: What conditions are needed in schools to retain and develop quality teachers?
WJ: Everyone thinks that in music you either have it or don’t. I read about a study of students learning music. The kids whose parents went to the musical lessons did a lot better than other kids. You can have the greatest instruction, but if the kids aren’t meeting you half way it’s lost. Who scores the lowest? Poor kids, English language learners who come from economically deprived background. Who goes to college? Children whose parents have a high level of education. Nobody talks about that at all. We know where the lowest performing schools are. Nobody says let’s go after and help these kids who aren’t making it. Last year, 93% of white kids graduated from high school. But only 63% of Latino kids did. In California, 50% of the kids are Hispanic! Nobody wants to talk about it and say let’s do something to help these kids, instead of indicting the whole system. They don’t want to identify and assist in addressing the problem. Until we made public the API school, we found out exactly what we knew. Who is in the top percent? The richest communities. Who’s at the bottom? Mostly poor, English language learners. I haven’t heard anyone say we need to address these problems based on poverty.
SB: I spoke to a teacher the other day who said that she thought that the public school system is falling apart. Do you agree?
WJ: It’s not public schools. It’s urban public schools. In Los Angeles, Oakland, cities like Compton and Inglewood, the system is overloaded with kids that have all kinds of problems, they are poor, they live in gang infested neighborhoods. The public schools in Beverly Hills are not falling apart. The schools in San Marino are not falling apart. It’s the schools that are trying to serve the destitute of America. They are poor and mismanaged. If you get in and analyze those schools, they are doing a lot better job than anyone realizes, considering that they have to deal with such mammoth problems.
