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- Dr. Jane Young
College of Education Faculty Oral Histories
Dr. Jane Young
LB: What sentiments would you share with a student coming in to the College of Education who is aspiring to become a teacher based on your experience and having seen so many students become teachers as they go on with their career?
JY: Well, I think they, the whole filed of teaching for teachers has changed so radically in the last ten years with the various bits of legislation that has come through as well as with the structures under which they work which appears to have been exponentially increased paperwork. They have to deal with the difficulties of, you know, such as poverty in the schools and on the other end of the spectrum where students who come from higher income areas who believe they are entitled to things that children are not entitled to. But I think it’s probably always been there but maybe not quite as obvious. Certainly, in this county and in this part of the country. I think I would tell them that a having a kind heart and loving children is no where near enough.
You have to be able to know who you are as a person and you have to be able to articulate your reasons for doing various things extremely well, as well as knowing your content area. If you don’t know your content area then you’re lost and a lot of people come in to elementary education, early childhood education thinking that all they need to know is colors. Can you tell the difference between red and yellow? Yes, I can do that. Well, I’m going to be a good teacher and I love children. Well, no. It never was enough, but anymore it’s even less than enough and I think a lot of the time people come in to teaching without a very clear view of what teaching is really all about and what teaching is like in the schools now.
My advice would be to go and volunteer in the school for a few weeks, not just one school, maybe a couple and see if this is what you really want to do. Unless you really want to do it, you will never stay with it. We lose still so many teachers before they complete their fifth year in the classroom. The demand for teachers is growing, and growing, and growing, particularly in Florida where we get something like 1,000 new students in the schools every day. I heard that statistic on Florida Matters the other day. So it’s very different from when I went into teaching. I remember when I first started to teach there wasn’t a parent that I couldn’t call up and say, “You know, Johnny has been really a pain in the neck today.” And the parent would say, “Oh, wait till he gets home.” You know, well, I would never dare do that now. I’d have to have three pieces of written paper I’m quite sure and very good reasons which would have gone through the principal. And I know some of these have things come about for very good reasons, but I think other things have really almost have hampered the ability of teachers to do their job a lot of the time.
LB: Were there any questions I didn’t ask you?
JY: I don’t think so. When I took this job at USF in the faculty somebody said to me, “University of South Florida, where is that?” So I told them that it was in Tampa. So the person I was talking to said, “Hum, I never heard of that university. Why are you going there?” And then when I told them they said, ”Oh, that will be interesting. You should try that for a couple of years.” A couple of years turned into over 30. There’s no way that I could have imagined, even when I went to national conventions, there was nothing that even came close in my view to what we have here. As a faculty, it was unique.
LB: I pointed out to a number of faculty members after having done some research that the high percentage of faculty who came here and although had many opportunities to go elsewhere completed their careers here.
JY: That’s right.
LB: That says something in itself. When I asked Bill Katzenmeyer the same question, he pulled out a slip of paper and he had a list of names of people he wanted to thank for making his job easier and your name was at the top of the list.
JY: Oh, my goodness. Who would have thought?
LB: How much of a help you had been to him during his deanship.
JY: People are very kind.
LB: I thank you for coming in and sharing with us your memories of the history of the College of Education.
JY: My pleasure.
LB: As well as your thoughts about the Physical Education program as well as student advising and counseling. Thank you very much.
JY: Thank you. It’s my pleasure.
End of Interview