There’s this idea that it is “‘beneath the dignity of an Ivy League school to train teachers,’” points out Walter Isaacson ’74, former CEO of CNN and graduate of Harvard College, quoted in an article by The Atlantic.
It’s pretty normal to ask someone what their plans are after college. Most commonly, when I eavesdrop on these conversations, I hear the ubiquitous “graduate school,” “finance,” or “consulting.” So sometimes, when I’m asked about my postgraduate hopes and dreams, I feel my heart rate climb a little as I rush to answer, “I’m not sure—probably graduate school, I think.” I think.
The truth is, there has always been a part of me that aspires to follow in the footsteps of my incredible mother, and her mother before her, both of whom are and have been early elementary and high school teachers, respectively, serving diverse student bodies in the Cambridge, New York, and Chicago public school systems. And I know from personal experience that in large, underfunded, overcrowded schools, where it’s easy to slip through the cracks, teachers who truly care for their students make a world of difference.
But I have yet to hear many Harvard students express interest in similarly average-paying or more commonplace careers—and so I grapple with sharing my public school teacher dream at the risk of being seen as any less ambitious than my peers. And my guess is that I’m not alone in this experience.
What’s ironic is that for a career so important to the public good, teaching is not generally accepted as an A-list job or typically sought after by top graduates from prestigious universities. According to a survey by The Crimson given to the Harvard College Class of 2023, around 65 percent of respondents reported going on to work in consulting, finance, academia/research, or technology. Meanwhile, only a meager 2.8 percent report intending to go into education. The fear I have of being the only student in my class who thinks about becoming a teacher is undeniably realistic.
The Department of Education refers to teachers as “the backbone of our democracy.” It goes without saying that students need engaged, well-trained instructors in order to develop quality problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. But it’s more than that: teachers act as a unique kind of personal support to a child or adolescent, providing unconditional belief in the ability of a student. Receiving this kind of positive regard is developmentally essential; students perform better when their teachers genuinely assume they will succeed.
According to research done by former Harvard Professor Robert Rosenthal, teachers “give the students that they expect to succeed more time to answer questions, more specific feedback, and more approval.” The success of the student, then, is at least partially dependent on the opinion of the teacher. Teachers who believe equally in the capabilities of their students are likely to produce an intelligent, successful class. Moreover, a study from Missouri University revealed that teachers who develop good relationships with their students receive better ratings on “high-impact” teaching methods from their students. Instructors with strong interpersonal skills, therefore, may be better equipped to effectively teach.
The beliefs and interactions teachers have about and with their students directly impact the educational experience of their students. It is not just the curriculum that matters—it’s the instructors themselves. So to me, it seems obvious that such an important job market could benefit from students with Harvard educations.
Yet less than a quarter of American teachers matriculate from the academic top third of their college cohorts, and even fewer serve in low-income schools. And as we’ve seen, Harvard’s undergraduates aren’t rushing into teaching jobs either—or, rather, public school teaching jobs. It’s not lost on me that while academia is still highly sought after, classroom teaching is viewed as distinctively lesser than professorship. So what will it take to reverse the institutional stigma pointed out by Isaacson and manifested in the statistics of our nation’s current teachers?
The answer, of course, isn’t for all of us to drop what we’re doing and take up an education major. It’s for us to remember that we owe our academic success to the teachers who shaped us—that it isn’t an outrageous idea to apply an Ivy League education to a classroom setting. The success of the next generation of students is dependent on having qualified, engaged, intelligent teachers.
At a place like Harvard, it’s easy to feel like the only respectable postgraduate plans involve years of graduate school, or consulting, or finance. And while there’s nothing wrong with any of those fields, it’s important to keep in mind that there are other options. Having aspirations that are lower paying than the average Ivy League student doesn’t render them unimportant—if anything, it may encourage others with similarly diverse interests to pursue their own passions. So, be it a public school teaching job or not, I encourage you to embrace whatever is calling, knowing that the value of a career is not dependent on its salary. My mom—a kindergarten teacher—taught me that.
Emmie Palfrey ’27 (epalfrey@college.harvard.edu) wrote this piece thanks to the instruction of many amazing English teachers.