Where have all the teachers gone?

Every year, for the past four years, I see a plea from public school systems for teachers.  Apparently the number of newly available teachers is shrinking faster than existing teachers are leaving the field and retiring.

I can't even pretend to know what is happening in this field.  I was a revolutionary activist in education in the 1960’s. I made significant changes in classroom teaching in a few schools in San Francisco.  All the good parts washed away in a few years.  The bad part, black integration, still remains and has done immeasurable damage.

I have several teachers in my immediate family.

Still, I can only speculate on what is happening in the teaching field.  I suggest the following:

• Young people see a more interesting world where they can work in other areas that are rewarding.  The digital world opens new realms of interesting work.

• Internet education and Wikipedia have changed the role of teacher and learner significantly and the role of teacher has been greatly diminished at every grade level.

• The public school system is such an abysmal failure in every educational regard that young people rarely see heroes in the form of teachers.

• The idea of a future driven by unions, incompetent teachers as your peers, and no rewards for excellence only appeals to a dwindling segment of the population.

That is what I see from my desk.  What do you see?