Quit Clucking And Do Something, Teachers Told

Teachers who huddle in faculty lounges and cluck their tongues over the inadequacies of a colleague has been challenged by the National Education Assocation president to do something about it. "Negotiations are now a fact, but we can't continue to appear before the public demanding higher salaries and better working conditions without also presenting plans to do a better job," Mrs. Elizabeth D. Koontz told an estimated 2,500 bers of the Michigan Education Association. She spoke at the 1968 Regional Conference in the University Events Building this morning. "We all know there are teachers whohave tobe dragged into trying new methods and approaches, who complain about requirements to bring their professional competence up to today's level, who refuse to attend committee meetings and then take credit for the accomplishments . . . "Well, we share the blame. You don't want to sit in judgment of your peers? Who do you want to sit in judgment? The State Board of Education? The local board? A committee of concerned but uninformed parents?" Mrs. Koontz smiled wryly as she described her first day as a teacher " - as unquestionably the best teacher in the school, because no one told me what to expect at the orientation meeting, no one showed me my room, no one told me to find books. T h e y let me know that they considered me such an expert that I wouldn't need any help. "This is still going on today. We, who know that no amount of schooling is equal to experience, sit and criticize the new teachers. Some of these young people have a lot to teach us," she said. "I'd like to say to the new people, 'you have something in yor head that I want. Teil me whal you have learned in school and I'll share with you what I know about human