Editorial voices from other Pa. newspapers
Editorial voices from newspapers around Pennsylvania:
Would it be a good idea to toughen standards for public school teachers?
Admittedly, the notion might seem counterintuitive when the state faces a decline in college students taking the teaching career path. But that may be exactly why this is a good time to try.
The teaching profession has been demeaned for years, most often by “reformers” who claim to be standing up for students, but are often supporting special interests profiting from privatization and corporatization of education.
In a world where faith in public school teachers is, at best, ebbing, is it logical to suspect tighter qualifications could reverse that trend, convincing a skeptical public that public education is serious about regaining public confidence?
The state could create a higher level of certification that requires rigor but is not mandatory, something teachers may pursue and school districts embrace in the relentless quest for excellence.
Similarly, a local college could create a second track for those seeking teacher certification, one that goes straight to a master’s and requires higher performance to graduate. School districts, individually or collectively could raise the requirements for job applicants. Contracts already reward newcomers who have higher levels of education with better pay. Why not add incentives for those who have higher GPAs and/or other evidence of commitment and success.
We love technology … most of the time.
We use it everyday. Sure, it can be a pain, and it does become addicting. Look at all the people walking around staring only – and long and hard – at their cellphones.
OK, so having said that, we do not want to see computerized driver-less cars riding up and down our streets anytime soon.
But get ready people, because money talks and word is out that ride-hailing service Uber will start hauling passengers in self-driving cars (apparently with human backup drivers) on the streets of Pittsburgh within the next several weeks.
The U.S. Transportation Department has said it will propose federal government guidelines for self-driving vehicles later this year. Meanwhile, states are grappling with how to regulate the technology. A handful – including Nevada, California, Michigan and Florida – have approved guidelines for testing these vehicles on public roads. Pennsylvania has not developed such regulations, restrictions or limits so far as we know. It should in advance of what is now spreading across the country.
And Keystone State lawmakers had better give the public ample opportunity to weigh in before more driver-less cars hit our roads.
For 100 years, the National Park Service has worked to maintain and present the nation’s important sites as tributes to our past and education centers for our future.
The NPS was launched by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916 to preserve and protect a park system that has since grown to more than 400 locations – including five in our region.
“We’re lucky they had the foresight in 1916 to preserve all of this history,” said Keith Newlin, deputy superintendent for the National Park Service’s Western Pennsylvania District and a key player in the development of the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville.
The region is also home to these NPS sites: Johnstown Flood National Memorial and Allegheny Portage Railroad National Memorial in Cambria County, and the Fort Necessity Battlefield and Friendship Hill National Historic Site in Fayette County.
We’re proud of Western Pennsylvania’s place in the history of our nation, and of the efforts to maintain the park sites to keep telling the stories to future generations. We encourage readers to explore the many great National Park Service stops from Maine to Alaska and Hawaii – each one telling the shared history of America.