美国中小学新学年开学在即，然而，全美不少学校正在因为“教师荒”而发愁。

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“美国的教师短缺已经达到危机水平。”美国《华盛顿邮报》报道称，为了确保学生们返校后有人教他们，各地的学校绞尽脑汁。

The teacher shortage in America has hit crisis levels — and school officials everywhere are scrambling to ensure that, as students return to classrooms, someone will be there to educate them.

《华盛顿邮报》：“从未见过如此糟糕的情况”：美国面临灾难性的教师短缺

 
据美国广播公司，美国全国教育协会（NEA）会长丽贝卡·普林格尔在采访中表示，据统计，预计在2022年至2023年的学期当中，全美面临近30万名教师以及学校职工的短缺。



“We are estimating about 300,000 shortages of teachers and support staff across this nation as students go back to school.” Rebecca Pringle, the president of the National Education Association told ABC News on August 11.

据内华达州教育协会估计，截至8月初，该州17个学区约有3000个教师职位空缺。另据一份今年1月的报告显示，在伊利诺斯州，全州88%的学区存在教师短缺问题——2040个教师岗位不是空着，就是被“非专业人员”填补了。在休斯顿地区，最大的五个学区都报告说，尚有200到1000个教学岗位空缺。

The Nevada State Education Association estimated that roughly 3,000 teaching jobs remained unfilled across the state’s 17 school districts as of early August. In a January report, the Illinois Association of Regional School Superintendents found that 88 percent of school districts statewide were having “problems with teacher shortages” — while 2,040 teacher openings were either empty or filled with a “less than qualified” hire. And in the Houston area, the largest five school districts are all reporting that between 200 and 1,000 teaching positions remain open.

《华盛顿邮报》报道称，由于缺少教职工，在美国德克萨斯州的农村学区，新学期将改为每周只上四天课；佛罗里达州则让没有教学背景的退伍军人站上讲台“顶岗”；亚利桑那州则允许大学生从事教学工作。

Rural school districts in Texas are switching to four-day weeks this fall due to lack of staff. Florida is asking veterans with no teaching background to enter classrooms. Arizona is allowing college students to step in and instruct children.

为何美国出现“教师荒”？

“美国的政治局势加上新冠疫情的后果，造成了这种短缺。”美国教师联合会主席兰迪·温加滕告诉《华盛顿邮报》，“这是人为因素导致的。”

“The political situation in the United States, combined with legitimate aftereffects of covid, has created this shortage,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. “This shortage is contrived.”

美国全国教育协会今年年初的民调显示，教师成疫情期间美国最不受求职者欢迎的职业，原因包括90%教育工作者感到极度劳累（felling burned out），以及疫情带来的额外压力（general stress from the coronavirus pandemic）、工资太低（pay is too low）、缺乏家长和社会的尊重（lack of respect from parents/the public）等。

美国全国教育协会民调图表，深色百分比代表美国教师认为“非常严重”的问题，浅色为“较为严重”的问题。图源：美国全国教育协会官网

费尔法克斯教育协会主席莱斯利·休斯顿告诉《华盛顿邮报》，在她的职业生涯中，从来没有见过这么多教师因为感到不受尊重而辞职，主要是受到政客和一些家长的不尊重。

Leslie Houston, president of the Fairfax Education Association, said she has never in her career seen so many teachers leaving the job because they feel disrespected, primarily by politicians and some parents.

为了解决教师短缺，不少美国学校想出的解决方案五花八门，包括提高教师工资、增加合格教师人数、扩大班级人数规模等。

但是内华达州教育协会主席道恩·埃切瓦里(Dawn Etcheverry)认为，这些临时解决办法中，很多都可能对学生造成不良影响。“班级人数扩大一倍可能会让老师们没有办法一对一关注学生，无法理解学生的需求。”

The stopgap solutions for lack of staff run the gamut, from offering teachers better pay to increasing the pool of people who qualify as educators to bumping up class sizes. But many of these temporary fixes are likely to harm students by diminishing their ability to learn, predicted Dawn Etcheverry, president of the Nevada State Education Association.

“When you start to double classes, teachers don’t have that one-on-one with the students, that personal ability to understand what the student needs” — both academically and socially, Etcheverry said.

综合来源：央视财经，华盛顿邮报，美国广播公司，美国全国教育协会官网