When Robert Cooter began teaching at the poorest school in Knoxville he said he went in with the eyes of a white middle class man. He said his first semester was hard and frustrating.
After learning to set that mentality aside and understand the students, Cooter said he had a breakthrough, Cooter said.
"It became litterally the best teaching job I ever had," he said. There are nearly 200 city schools with more than a hundred thousand students in Memphis. Many of those classrooms are filled with children who are not understood by their teachers, said Cooter, now a professor and chair of the instruction and curriculum leadership at The University of Memphis.
He said there has been a lot of talk in the media about a teacher shortage in Memphis. However, it is the teacher turnover rate in the city schools that is the problem, according to Cooter.
Teachers quit city schools because the students do not respond to how they are being taught, he said. The teachers begin to think there is something wrong with the kids.
"What they (the students) tend to be handicapped by is an education system that is not responsive to who they are," Cooter said.
He, along with others in the ICL department, to trying to change that by showing the future teachers they train how to understand what city kids are like.
There are many reasons why teaching in the city is different from teaching in the suburbs, according to Cooter.
Marty Pettigrew, the principal of Peabody Elementary in the Cooper and Young area, has seen some of the effects of poverty on students. A lot of students are not fully prepared to enter school, Pettigrew said.
He said there are a lot of children who come in without being read to and don't have the same readiness as more economically fortunate children.
However, Cooter thinks the problem lies elsewhere. He said children in city schools are just as experienced and ready as others. They are just experienced in a different way.
"We are giving them a less capable education system," he said. Both agree the best way to better the education of children in Memphis City Schools is through the teachers.
"Without a doubt teachers have the biggest impact," Pettigrew said. "A teacher is in the trenches."
Amy Myers, freshman film and video production major, said the Memphis school system is completely different from the school system she attended.
Memphis teachers need to be retrained and have more discipline in the classrooms, she said.
Kalia Lucas, a forensic science junior and friend of Myers, disagrees and thinks they are already focusing more on discipline than they are on education.
She said the teachers need to be better equipped.
"Where I'm from they (teachers) have to have a master's degree to teach," Lucus said.
Others also believe teachers need to be trained.Pettigrew said the teachers in his school are well equipped, but there are many teachers in the city that are not certified to teach.
He said the city needs more teachers who are.
Nick Robinson, a senior special education major, said he is not worried at all about getting a job when he graduates. He plans to be a teacher in the Memphis City Schools.
"The city needs way more help than the county does," Robinson said.He said he thinks city children require more attention than those in rural and suburban areas, but he feels the effort is worth it.
"By making an impact its more rewarding," he said.
Both Pettigrew and Cooter have been teachers, and both said it is a rewarding experience wherever you teach.
"If you have a heart to teach and you want to make a difference in the lives of children come join us in the Memphis City Schools," Pettigrew said.
