EARLIER THIS WEEK, the Legislative Educational Planning Committee met in Topeka to talk about the state’s teacher shortage. The committee heard — probably not for the first time — that Kansas school districts are short of teachers: 1,100 teachers needed this year. Other states are having the same problem.
The problem is not confined to education.
In recent months, news reports have come from all over the United States — from around the world, actually — of a worsening shortage of trained nurses.
Both of these situations — serious as they are — should be considered good news for Emporia and for Emporia State University. After all, the university’s main mission is to train teachers for the classrooms of the state and the nation. The university also does a nice sideline in training registered nurses through its partnership with the Newman School of Nursing. The best time to be a supplier is when demand for your product is high.
But turning out more good teachers and nurses is not as simple as cranking up the speed of a production line. First, there is a shortage of raw material. Teachers and nurses are vital members of society. Both are responsible in their own ways for the lives of others. To produce good nurses and teachers, schools must start with smart, caring students.
There are several problems with that. The first is that many smart, caring students are hoping for careers that pay better and get more respect than education or health care. College is frightfully expensive these days and many graduates begin their careers deeply in debt. It is easier to pay those debts from a salary of $60,000 a year than from a salary of $30,000 or $40,000 a year.
Even if students feel the call to be teachers or nurses, they can face other obstacles. In nursing, particularly, good nursing schools do not have enough spaces to train the nurses who are needed. Training more nurses will require more qualified faculty, more classrooms and more equipment. To train more teachers, schools of education must also have the means to handle more students while maintaining quality.
So solving the shortages that now affect the nation’s hospitals and schools will require more than public relations campaigns to recruit students. The solutions will also require a willingness to pay salaries that reflect the importance of the work that teachers and nurses do and a willingness to invest more in colleges and nursing schools.
If that happens, the shortages — and their solution — will be good news for Emporia’s university.
ctcutie29 (anonymous) says...
Actually from what I hear about ESU's tough nursing program, I think they should consider choosing 35 students per semester instead of once a year, there are many deserving students on that waiting list or who have been rejected. I would also like to see more mexicans, hispanics or anyone else for that matter in the program as well!
July 26, 2007 at 5:03 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
sciguy (anonymous) says...
Some of our biggest shortages are in math and science (as well as special education, foreign language, and a couple of other subject areas).
The state of Kansas, like most states, has an alternative route to teacher licensure for people with degrees in those subject areas, a desire to teach, and a willingness to put in the effort necessary to earn the certification while teaching full-time right from the start.
ESU does not participate in the program, but Fort Hays State does statewide by distance education; Wichita State does through their campus and by distance ed; Pittsburg State does through the satellite campus in Kansas City, and KU does for some of the Kansas City districts. At ESU, you may pursue "post-graduate certification" on campus, but not as part of the alternative program (it cannot be done while teaching).
The alternative programs are a valuable way to bring experienced professionals and graduates who decide to teach into the profession without running them through two or three years of expensive, full-time classwork.
Also, I believe that the Nursing School has been the Newman Division of Nursing at Emporia State for some time now. I do not believe that it is a separate entity any longer.
July 26, 2007 at 10 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )