When my late sister, Enid, was a senior at Forest Park High School in the early 1960s, she committed to attending what was then called Towson State Teachers College.
There was back then a program where students who would commit to teaching for two years out of college would have all or most of their tuition paid by the state.
Enid went on to graduate magna cum laude from Towson. She would teach for two years in the city school system, one year at Forest Park High School, the other at Edmonson. Then she would move to New York, where she’d go on to earn her master’s and doctorate at City College of New York.
Of great concern to many parents of yeshiva or day school parents here in Baltimore is the issue of quality teachers.
Unfortunately, finding and keeping a teacher of quality is extremely difficult for many of these schools, especially in the areas of secular studies.
We say that our children are our top priority, yet in many cases, we place inferior teachers in front of them. So much so that the daunting expense of tuition is only made worse by additional tutoring fees that parents must pay because in some cases the schools aren’t doing their jobs.
We are an intelligent community. We’re spending time looking into strategic planning at the Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore and even at individual Jewish institutions.
So why can’t we come up with a strategic plan that involves teacher training. Why can’t we think out of the box for a change.
There are many high school juniors and seniors who would do well to attend college at least partially at our expense if they would commit to turning around upon graduation and giving at least two years back to area day schools and yeshivas as classroom teachers, certified classroom teachers with college degrees.
Going to Israel for a year doesn’t automatically qualify anyone to manage a classroom.
But I implore the community, especially the Orthodox community. We all know that many days or weeks don’t go by without a person knocking on our doors at home with a blue card from the Vaad asking us for money to take back to Israel.
Suppose we kept half of that money back here in Baltimore.
And suppose we worked with area colleges to help broker scholarships so that we could send students with a real desire to teach into these institutions. The payback to the community would be marvelous. Classroom management skills, true knowledge of a subject, plus a desire to really want to be in the classroom.
So many times while I met the teachers of my own children, I got the feeling that they were here because they couldn’t make it somehow in the public school systems or they were at the end of the line in their careers.
I heard a woman say the other day that her child has had four different Algebra II teachers, and she has to spend money on tutoring to augment her child’s math skills.
I listened as a man talked about the lack of qualified Advanced Placement teachers in his child’s school. And then another story of a teacher who had to return to her native country, because her green card expired. Why wasn’t this known.
And I can remember when my child’s fifth grade teacher all but emotionally abused her entire classroom. The school was quick to hire but slow to fire.
But when firing does happen, it’s tough on the children. It takes an emotional toll, and one gets the feeling that the schools are scrambling to find bodies to fill spaces.
So let’s talk about sending our graduating seniors into scholarship-aided university teaching curriculums. Why wouldn’t we want our younger children to see that their schools produce great teachers?
We could make it happen.
That is, if we really wanted to.

They were slow to fire because no administration wants to admit they are wrong, and listen to the complaints of 10 and 11 year olds over a “highly educated” teacher.