Educators in Supply and Demand: Effects on Quality

Abstract

This paper addresses four propositions. (1) There is a large teacher surplus, although its exact dimension is as questionable as that of the elephant described by the blind men. Furthermore, there has been a general collapse of the college job market, brought about in part by the shrinking market for teachers. (2) Part of the rhetoric of the educational establishment has been to deny the existence of a teacher "surplus"--calling it, rather, a "shortage." I take the position that such an argument is unpromising, even if correct, because schools of education may be the least likely institutions to be able to provide the quality teachers in short supply. (3) The rhetoric of the institutions which train teachers says that the response to this problem has been (and ought to remain) benign neglect--or, let the buyer beware. (4) The evidence thus far accumulated suggests, in actuality, that an entirely different response is taking place: intake adjustments are being made in some cases which result in rising ratios of acceptances to applications, reaching a situation akin to open enrollments. The result is declining standards and much lower SAT verbal and math scores among entering freshmen in teacher education and in other fields in which market demand has weakened. There are some very serious implications for the future; those in teacher preparation today constitute the pool of talent from which tomorrow's leaders must be drawn.