By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

The teacher shortages popping up around the country, especially in poor rural as well as troubled urban districts, probably reflect the consequences of turmoil that has beset education since the scathing “A Nation at Risk” report in 1983 that declared American public schools were failing.

A recent survey by the Illinois association of regional education superintendents found that 60 percent of reporting school districts had staffing difficulties this past year and 16 percent had to cancel classes due to shortages of qualified teachers.

My rural district has had a deuce of a time finding a Spanish teacher and has resorted to an online offering to provide its single foreign language. Industrial arts, agriculture and “home ec” slots are also hard to fill in rural areas, while bilingual and special ed teachers are hard to come by in urban districts.

The situation will get worse. Enrollment in teacher ed programs nationally has dropped from 691,000 in 2009 to 451,000 in 2014.

Illinois State University in Normal has always been a major producer of teachers. ISU administrator Amee Adkins reports that graduation of newly minted teachers at her university has declined from 1,000 in 2009 to 750 this past year, and that similar reductions are the case across the 55 teacher ed programs in Illinois.

Prosperous suburban schools with good teacher pay, often averaging $100,000 ($110,000 for New Trier High faculty in Winnetka), will have few problems finding faculty.  Read More

•December 7, 2016•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

For most of human history, there has been no change from generation to generation. Peasants tilled their fields across the centuries with the same primitive tools. Their masters carried on “economic development” (warfare) unabated.

The rate of change over time was flat, scraping along the bottom of the chart.

Real change began in the Golden Age of 5th Century BC Greece, I would say, followed in the 700s AD or so with Islamic and Tang Dynasty China scientific advances. Then followed the 14th Century Renaissance and later the Scientific Method and Industrial Revolution.

The 20th Century saw the rate of change catapult sharply upward. Yet the change we have seen in recent years in artificial intelligence, cyber communication and genetic manipulation have been at a breath-taking, exhilarating and sobering, almost incomprehensible rate that has the line on the chart headed almost straight up.

In the 19th Century, Mendel’s path-breaking experiments with the inheritance of characteristics languished in obscurity for decades before being recognized; Darwin delayed publication of his work on evolution for many years. Read More

•November 23, 2016•

By Jerry L. Ginther
NP Columnist

Tradition has significance for most seniors, I believe, especially during the autumn and winter holidays. I mean, what would Thanksgiving Day be without the traditional turkey dinner with pumpkin pie, stuffing, cranberry sauce and the many other treats associated with the day? The aroma from the kitchen created anticipation for all who waited for the feast to be served. Who would think of dining out at a restaurant on this occasion unless one had no family with which to share the day?

There was always excitement in the preparations, too. And, as the old song, Over the River and Through Wood, suggests, we often went to Grandmother’s house for the day. Family would begin arriving at Grandma’s house mid morning, some with excited children. Some would bring side dishes to share, and all brought good humor and a healthy appetite. The ladies gathered in the kitchen with cheerful greetings and preparations for the meal got underway. I don’t recall any complaints concerning, “too many cooks in the kitchen.”

So many cheerful conversations took place before, during and after the meal. Of course, I can’t remember every Thanksgiving Day, but I can remember the atmosphere that was present at all. With the menfolk, the first fishing tale would never top the last, and every buck deer bagged had a huge rack. If you were a young boy, you were enthralled by the adventure. Even the girls found enjoyment in those accounts. The details of each hunt and fishing trip were articulated in such vivid detail that they captured the imagination of the listeners as only the old storytellers could. The art of conversation and storytelling was still intact in those days. That is to say, they were never boring. To me there was no such thing as an embellished account. If one of my uncles was telling the story, it had to be just as he told it. Is there any wonder as to why they enjoyed telling their stories to children? Yes, we believed every word! Read More

•November 16, 2016•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

I am writing this the day before the election, so as you read this you know much that I did not yet know. Thus I turn to broader topics: Where are we in Illinois at present, and whither are we tending?

Illinois has for years been growing more slowly than the nation and the rest of the Midwest, even though we have we have riches in transportation infrastructure, location, water and talent that most other states would die for.

In 1950, we were one of the four richest states in the nation, and Illinois per capita income stood at 128 percent of the national average of 100 percent. Since then, the state’s wealth has been steadily declining, relative to other states.

We are now at about 104 percent of the national average or right about in the middle.

But we were a big industrial state in the post-war era when all other major economies were flat on their backs. The heady days of the 1950s are not likely to come back soon. Read More

•November 2, 2016•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

The strange 2016 presidential campaign prompts important questions about the roles of political parties and the media in American politics. Are these institutions today fulfilling generally constructive functions for a healthy democracy?

My premise is that even with generally thoughtful citizens like you and me included in the mix, the public is nevertheless a collective “beast,” largely uninformed, undisciplined.

This beast needs mediating institutions like parties and the media to help guide it along the democratic process.

I fear that parties and the media, at least as critical mediating institutions, are being overwhelmed by an untethered tangle of 24/7 television news, digital social media, and smart phones.

George Washington decried “factions” (nascent political parties), yet parties became irresistible as a way of nominating candidates and organizing support from voters, especially as the franchise expanded rapidly in the early days from propertied white males only to everyone age 18 and over today.

Nominations by parties proceeded from caucuses of a few party leaders, in the early days, to conventions of appointed, then elected, delegates, and on to primary elections in which all party registrants could vote. Read More