Ph.D. Teachers (3)

I applaud Dr. Morris's commentary. He identifies a critical problem in our secondary schools and presents an interesting solution (namely, letting newly minted Ph.D.s teach in our high schools if the barriers established by the local school districts can be surmounted).

There are three points that I would like to offer in this regard.

First, the primary love of our best and brightest new scientists is research and discovery. It is unlikely that a significant number of them are willing to abandon the excitement of the laboratory for the "rewards of teaching teenagers."

Second, since less than 1 percent of our K-12 teachers hold doctorates, it is possible that these ambitious and highly trained young scientists will represent a serious threat to the K-12 educational establishment and therefore only be reluctantly accepted into the system.

Third, Professor Morris correctly identifies an impending exodus of baby boomers from the K-12 teaching...