Who Cares About Teacher?

For 50 years, educators have been trying to take the fear and fright out of U.S. schoolrooms by making things cheerful for the children: no more birch rods, no more dunce caps, an "understanding" attitude toward all concerned. By all accounts, children have never had it better. But what about the teachers?

An impressively documented report came along last week demanding a more understanding attitude for them--specifically for teachers starting out on their first jobs. Consider, says the Metropolitan School Study Council of New York City, the case of a hypothetical Peg Woodruff.

As the council's booklet, The Newly Appointed Teacher, tells it, Peg is a sensitive girl, half scared to death by the thought of walking into a strange school and facing her first class. There is a lunchroom across from school; Peg heads in there for a cup of coffee first. As she thinks about what lies ahead, she orders a second cup. The question Peg asks herself: "How did I ever get myself into this spot ... in a strange town, a strange school with no one in it who knows me or cares about me? I'll probably make a mess of the whole thing."

Peg's college training seems as worthless now as the advice from her mother, ."All you have to do is tell them stories and let them color pictures." The new teacher finally crosses the street and walks into the school building, but she decides that "the children are lucky. Most of them know what they're walking into. What about the new teachers? Nobody thought of us, I guess."

To help Peg and other new teachers who can't avoid feeling a little lost, the council had examined what was being done about just such problems in some 30 U.S. communities. The result: a list of tested practices that have kept many potentially first-rate teachers from being scared out of their jobs before they had a chance to prove themselves.

Among cities doing the best job, in the council's books:

P:Carlsbad, N. Mex.3 which sends new teachers a string of personal letters from the school superintendent and the teachers' association before they start to work, helps them find places to live, and provides a guidebook on the city and its school system..

P:Portland, Ore., which takes new teachers on automobile tours of the city, sponsors get-acquainted picnics and teas, entertains them at concerts and the theater.

P:Provo, Utah, which gives new teachers time off to visit other schools and classrooms, assigns each newcomer an experienced instructor as helper and guide through the first year.

P:New York City, which offers demonstrations by department supervisors in newcomers' classrooms, helps them out with the disciplining of difficult children.

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