Teaching in Maryland
As a small child at the age of 4 or 5, I would sit across from my older brother, watching him sketch and paint, and with my little hands trying to hold up the weight of the pencil I became a pupil of art. I began to draw constantly, filling up my bedroom drawers with doodles and drawing. I began slacking off at school work, drawing stick figures on the side of tests. As I started to grow up I became more disciplined at my school work, but continued to learn from the people around me. Every technique and suggestion they taught, I used the next time I sat down to draw and I would try hard to master it. Every art instructor I have had has helped me to develop my talent further, and it is because of them I have decided to move from pupil to teacher.
It was not an easy decision to become a teacher, the horror stories are all around, and it is not secret information that teachers get paid very little for the important job they do. I have had many less-than-realistic dreams growing up, first of being an animator or cartoonist, later I moved on to dreams of becoming a film director or editing motion pictures. But with the state of the education system in the country, and the arts constantly under attack from, people who fail to see them as valid subjects, I decided that art education was the next path in my journey. As I am about to graduate, I have needed to do some research on becoming a teacher in the state of Maryland. I have learned about the Maryland State Department of Education, teachers’ salaries, and the state of the arts in Maryland schools.
After I take hold of my degree on the 17th of December, 2010, I will need to start paying back student loans and looking for fellowships that will help me, eventually, get my Master’s Degree. Bowie State University has a great “Master of the Artsin Teaching” program that takes roughly 2 years to complete, ending with a Master’s Degree and the ability to teach in 36 states. Before I tackle an advanced degree that, I wanted to become more aware as to what was needed from me in order to become a teacher in the state of Maryland. First, I looked at the basic requirements one would need to achieve in order to become an educator in Maryland. What I found was, in order to become a teacher in the state of Maryland, applicants must first hold a Bachelor’s Degree or Master’s Degree, have 180 hours in a classroom as a student teacher, pass both the Praxis I and Praxis II exams, and submit to the Maryland State Department of Education, all documents pertaining to Education.
As one of the nearly 300,000 people living in Howard County, I have chosen to focus most of my research in that area and to see why Howard County is held in high regard as one of the best school systems in the state. A few reasons I have found for this achievement, is that Howard county currently has 57,683 public school teachers, teaching 859,477 students, which makes 14.9 students per teacher, allowing for more individual attention than many other school systems. The county spends $8,397,946,836 on education, $3,018,609,073 or 36% of which is used to pay for teachers’ salaries. Though most teachers have an average income of less than $60,000 a year, a starting salary for a teacher in Howard County is $37,125, which makes the county ranked 6th in the State for teacher pay, and 37th in the nation. Though the student–to-teacher ratio is low, the teacher pay is as well. Teaching is certainly a rewarding job, but if you are looking for a well paid job, it is not the place for you.
Wanting to be an educator is a difficult decision, wanting to be an art educator is a even more difficult one. As budgets get lower for schools, the arts are the first thing to go. In California alone, they have cut back 76% of their art programs, including music and theater. Here in Maryland, art grants given to help continue art programs in schools have declined from 2.8 Million dollars since 2008 to 1.2 Million, a budget cut of over 50%, making it difficult to continue these types of programs. Teachers are forced to cut corners and use what little pay they get to make sure that classrooms have books, papers, and art supplies.
Reading and listening to news programs have scared me about my decision to become an educator. With proposed cuts of budgets to schools, to taking away bonuses for getting higher education, like Master’s and Doctorates, the future of education looks pretty grim. However, as I have sat in Art classes at Bowie State University and have listened to others talking about becoming teachers, only as a benefit to get summers off, I realize that I am needed in the school system more then ever. Our education system is a joke, and if our teachers go into schools only with "when will I get three months off" on their minds and not looking at the more important benefits of passing on knowledge, or inspiring young people to reach their full potential, then our nation will continue to have astronomically high drop out rates. I don't wish to be a teacher because it’s a job full of glory; I am a Veteran, I have done that. I don't want to teach because I will get paid lots of money, I know that's not realistic. I want to teach because we owe it to the children today to give them the tools not just to be inspiring, but to inspire.
