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12/19/88, JiSff'

A CELEBRATION OF TEACHING

Commencement Address by Ernest L. Boyer

President

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

B-Lrmingham,_ Alabama

May 198&

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First, I wish to congratulate the class of 198

I congratulate you for completing—with success—your

course of study at one of the nation's most

distinguished higher learning institutions.

I also wish to congratulate

1. The parents

2. The grandparents

3. The spouses

assembled here today.

I congratulate you for the encouragement and for the money you

have given.

And I share with you the urgent hope that the graduates will now

go out and get a job.

f

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For over 300 years America has had a love affair with education.

Our first college began when the little colony on

Massachusetts Bay was only six years old.

In 1647 that same colony passed a law requiring every

town and village of 50 or more "souls"—adult males who

owned land "souls"—to provide—at public expense—a

"school master" to teach all the children to read and

write.

Education was too important to be left to chance.

George Washington said knowledge is the "surest basis" of

"public" happiness.

> son drew up a plan for

^d^John Jay declared that knowledge is "the soul" of the

Republic.

And during the Civil War President Lincoln signed the Land Grant

Act—which provided colleges from Maine to California.

Thomas Jeffer

n Virginia.

ApS i

universal

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TRINITYSP, 05/25/88, ELB/lb, SP

II,

But there is a darker side to all of this.

While Americans have always had a love affair with

education

We have at the same time been "enormously ambivalent"

about teachers.

i^lwLc Several years ago wJie.n. .we were writing a report on high schools

Hi- Tim niirnrQ'p ^rm n^ At- i i read a fascinating study about a

late nineteenth-century Nebraska school that colorfully described

our lack of "real regard" for teachers.

The writer said that 100 years ago at this little one room school

on the prairie

The first teacher was run out of town by a boy who used

stones as "weapons" of assault.

The writer said that

o The second teacher met the same agony.

o But when the third teacher had "soundly thrashed" one

boy and had also thrashed the father of another, the

reign of terror ended, )

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Still, the writer said, many students at that Nebraska school

considered the teacher Public Enemy #1.

Today, we don't stone our teachers or openly run them out of

town.

But we do expect them to do what our homes and churches and

communities have not been able to accomplish.

' Teachers fea^^Y a r e "l11 fid UQQfl fee fce<agJa !M»iiwr-tCTSfTrgT,<L» . — ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Jnfr also

o monitor the playground

o police for drugs

o reduct^yreg^ancy

o teach students how to drive

o eliminate graffiti

And when taaoh-or-s fall short anywhere along the line we condemn

them for not meeting our idealized expectations.

am convinced that excellence in teaching still means. .

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Bitter '(.Wr ing oflL ""yittdy ry£ L-hw AuifJi-r'Tjaii1 high i t 'betiding (J'lear

tliat—bhe»4>asic »i?ob 1 c i i m w X . " .J r

% is not salaries

t \ not merit pay

'it's the working conditions o£ fcfee toaaJa^. J gfrfteke-frs

adiposis have

A

too many students

too much paperwork

$ too many mindless interruptions

The PA system is a symbol of all that's gone wrong in public

education.

The simple truth is that if we want better schooling in this

nation we don't need more rules and regulations, we need more

teacher recognition.

When I was United States Commissioner of Education, I called

together twenty high school students from around the country. y^We

spent the day talking about schools and fe^r'THi^^hould^'

^jjnprnva. twear the end, I asked the students «to grade the

teachers Ii II " r I' VThnn i-ogpn^Pr^

we ended vpth an above average grade — a solid "B" at least.^And

all students said that they had at least one teacher who was

"absolutely tops."

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Then I asked the crucial question: "How many of you ever thanked

a teache^^^Not one hand went up! As one student put it, "It's

just not the thing to These high school students had been

with dozens of teachers every day for four years and yet not

once—even after an exciting session—did a student stop by the

teacher's desk or drop a note to say "Thank you very much."

There are poor teachers to be sure and I'm convinced the teaching

profession^must more vigorously police itself.

But it's also true that no profession is made healthy

by focusing only on what's bad.

And in our search for excellence we must give more .o the

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ELB/lb TRINITYSP

But what does all of this have to do with TL iiii L

I believe it means that this morning—at this commencement—we

should be honoring not just the graduates who will be awarded a

diploma

But on this memorable occasion we also should be honoring

have^made possible this day of special celebration

Several years ago I couldn't sleep. Instead of counting sheep I counted all the teachers I had had.

I remembered "rather vividly" fifteen or more—few

nightmares in the bunch.

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TRINITYSP, 05/25/88, ELB/lb, SP

9 / u J U U f ^ then fr r i ad—ffS shjmk -jbumL the great teachers

the truly outstanding individuals—in college or in

school—who had twuilnii] m^1 ui1 truly changed my life.

First I thought about Miss Rice, my first grade teacher, who

first day of school said

Good morning class. Today we learn to read.

It was Miss Rice who taught me language and learning are

unextricably interlocked.

I then recalled Mr. Wittingler, a high school history teacher

who one day said quietly as I passed the desk

Ernest, you're good in history—you keep this up

'l'"11'11 go<- I\ w .J' ILL 1 11 irj

The_f i r st —H=^-mp rl i r-fl fc z,,

Suddenly I thought I just might be a shndent.

And I remembered Dr. Joseph Smith, a literature professor

who loved to have us read Shakespeare aloud.

J )

Professor Smith laughed and cried—even though he had read

King Lear and MacBeth a thousand times before

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I"suspect that everyone in the audience today can remember

at least one great teacher you teve h a d — a — M - i l S s w t l t f

pharrg^d^your life forever.

if this were a Quakers-meeting, I'd

ur teachers a time of silence

2. a time -^f^sharing.

mom-

talk about today?

If you had a moment at tlye mike, what teacher would you

p a ^ ^ r ^

( ^ a i k, ^

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IV.

But to strengthen teaching in th^nation we need snorts fchaa

iixC pi i atti recollections.

also neea summer fellowships for teachers — to

p them intellectually enriched.

We neStd a teacher\excellenca fund in every school

to help\teachers implement a good idea.

3. We need a\career laddeV for outstanding teachers.

And jlso nood a national scholarship program for top high

school fcoaehora. who agree to teach 3 years i n i o n ' a public i —r- -

ciT

After all, we send gifted students to Peace Corps assignments overseas, why not recruit the brightest and the best to teach in the inner city here at home?

k M^xx/fnl^

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The tragedy is not\death. The tragedy is to die with

1. commitments undefined

2. convictions undeveloped

3. service unfulfilled

Again, I congratulate the Class of 198^. I taraw tiia-fl 9u-"h •€>f /n (by l^U, y'ju—'Whyt+ner—sm—yiy 'tljaaJoum,—in t in luudiiine ui—3raw— bank ,

of you wi^l intellectually excel and be of service, too.

^ L^iUj CsUylvr-

But I also hope that you ^ll^nomentarTT^panse) to think about

the great teachers in your lifer" Those unsung heroes who also

are being honored here today.

And as .think it would be very nice* if in the

r at least once a week.

H i ! W ^

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