Fewer Michigan college students want to be teachers. That's a problem.

[TexasTowelie]

Julia Alvarez knows all the reasons not to be a teacher. The pay is low. The hours are long. And some people don’t have great memories of their time in classrooms.

But the negatives don’t outweigh the positives of teaching for the 21-year-old Michigan State University senior majoring in elementary education. “I want to do something I am passionate about, and wake up every day ready to go to work,” Alvarez said.

Fewer college students are making that choice. Low salaries and negative perceptions of teaching are driving Michigan college students away from teacher preparation programs, hobbling efforts to improve the state’s struggling schools. Fewer teachers with four-year education degrees has also meant more Michigan classrooms led by long-term substitutes, who generally have far less training.

Enrollment at Michigan’s teacher preparation programs dropped 70 percent in eight years. There were 16,000 fewer college students majoring in K-12 education degree programs in 2016-17 school year (the most recent year statistics are available) than there were 2008-09, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education.

Read more: https://www.bridgemi.com/talent-education/fewer-michigan-college-students-want-be-teachers-thats-problem

[comradebillyboy]

1. Who would have thought good pay and working conditions might be

a factor in recruiting good teachers? It's one of those things that works well in the private sector that ought to be tried in the public sector.