V.P. Al Gore: America Will Need 2 Million More Teachers in 10 Years. Columbia University Record, October 24, 1997


VOL. 23, NO. 7	OCTOBER 24, 1997

V.P. Al Gore: America Will Need 2 Million More Teachers in 10 Years

President George Rupp gave Vice President Al Gore a Columbia sweatshirt after Gore's speech in Low Rotunda Oct. 9. Record Photo by Joe Pineiro.

By Amy Callahan

ith crowds of admiring students greeting him on College Walk and an enthusiastic audience cheering him in Low Rotunda, Vice President Al Gore on Oct. 9 delivered an appeal to the nation to invest in a new generation of public school teachers.

"Many of you have decided to dedicate your lives to educating young people," Gore said to the audience of students, faculty and administrators, saying he applauded the efforts of Columbia and Teachers College in leading initiatives in education. "Your combined commitment to academic excellence and social justice makes you a model. Education must be the highest priority of all Americans."

Over the next 10 years, "We must recruit, train and place two million public school teachers." The reason? Booming enrollments and an aging teaching force, Gore said, citing recent figures from the federal Department of Education.

According to the figures:

More than 45 percent of the current teaching force is age 46 or above and heading toward retirement.
In the next 10 years, public high school student enrollment will grow more than 13 percent nationwide.

Vice President reaches out to an enthusiastic crowd. Record Photo by Joe Pineiro.

In his introduction, President George Rupp praised Gore and the Clinton administration for making government more responsive to the nation's needs. And Rupp agreed with Gore's call for quality teachers. "We at Columbia believe very strongly in the primacy of teaching," he said.

In her remarks, Dean Karen Zumwalt of TC pointed out that children in urban and rural schools are often underserved, which continues the problem in public education: "Mediocrity perpetuates mediocrity, and that's just not good enough."

Angel Alexander, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and now a student at TC, told how she became committed to teaching after doing volunteer work in Philadelphia schools.

Gore's address struck home for many, including Elizabeth Pouso-Guillan, a student at TC. After the speech, she lingered in the crowd to shake the Vice President's hand. "I was in the business world for a while, and I just wasn't making a difference," she said later. "Working with children had meaning for me. I'm excited to go out there and make some changes."