It has been a long time issue that inner city schools often have the hardest time keeping and hiring qualified teachers. Cities, such as Milwaukee, face trouble with teachers leaving and moving to more suburbanized areas.
As it stands, Milwaukee has a policy that requires teachers to live in the area. Some have thought that more teachers might stay at Milwaukee’s Public Schools if they were allowed to live elsewhere. Many of the teachers do not want to live in the area because they would have to send their own children to the public schools.
There is no easy answer to keeping qualified teachers at “hard to teach” schools. However, I did run across and idea that actually seemed reasonable.
Children in these areas do not need a teacher to drive from his or her high suburban home to teach in the inner city. This creates an attitude that the teacher feels he or she is too good to live where the children are. The children need someone that is in the mist of them and knows the issues that they face.
Who would know better about the hardships of inner city children than the children themselves? We need more inner city children encouraged and trained to get educated and come back to teach at the inner city schools.
This may take grants, federal funds, support groups, and mentoring. However, having teachers that were once inner city children could give a school a lot of support. Teaching in a neighborhood that you grew up in and have ties with can add a lot of heart to your teaching. The children could see that they too can make something of their lives and become something in the future. They do not have to live on the streets or go to jail.
So how do we get more inner city children to grow up to teach in their old neighborhoods? The answer is unclear. However, the idea might work.
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