In the New York Times' Room for Debate section of April 19, one can read an interesting discussion about the teaching profession. Entitled "Teaching: No Fallback Career," it dealt with the qualities of teaching that make a "good" teacher. The title of this blog is from that exchange, by a fellow named Tom Moore. It sums things up nicely.

Professions in service to others, if viewed as "fallbacks," are, by definition, interim jobs. A worker in a "fallback" position is self-serving. Harm to those "served," as well as damage to the profession itself, are most likely. (Imagine if your doctor, or the nurses who are caring for you, considered their professions "fallback" careers. What does this do to your confidence in them? Your view of that profession?)

The Times' forum surfaced several "qualities" of a "good" teacher:

• Has depth of subject matter knowledge
• Has the ability to transfer knowledge
• Has a passion for the subject matter
• Has a passion for teaching
• Has a demonstrated ability to build trust in others
• Demonstrates flexibility to adapt content to the learning styles of the students
• Engages/impassions others to want to learn subject matter
• Understands students holistically (maturity, issues, personalities)

As our nation goes in search of good teachers, with an emphasis on mathematics and science, great care should be taken by the schools that hire to determine the relative importance of the above criteria. Then, candidate teachers should all be assessed in terms of the full set. (And, even current teachers should be run through the assessment process. Culling poor quality teachers from the classrooms has been also made a part of the Obama plan. Judge all by the same process, against the same criteria. It is fair and disciplined, and will be respected as such.)

Above all, care must be taken not to encourage persons to leave professions to take up teaching if they do not possess the full set of skills. To do so would be harmful in a number of ways: 1) If persons are good in their current profession, but are not qualified to teach in terms of the full set of criteria, it robs that profession of capability. 2) Substandard teaching is brought to the classroom, resulting in fewer students going into the profession in need, or poorly prepared students going into the profession. Broadening the criteria and assessing against the full set helps avoid these pitfalls.

June looms. The month associated with graduation. Most graduates, reports the New York Times, won't be seeking employment in the financial sector.This sector was once described as a bastion of jobs where "the pay was good" and came with other perks ("respect" and "self-esteem"). Now the set of criteria that determines "attractiveness" of professions is broadening:

• "has prestige/ gives one social status/respect"
• "meets peer expectations"
• "is not contrary to the 'climate of public opinion'"
• "helps solve the nation's problems"
• "is exciting work"
• "is important work"
• "is a job where my contributions are appreciated"
• "provides a decent salary"

Some years back, I took a colleague's son through an exercise using our software (first to help him select a major when he entered university, and then again upon his graduation into a profession he enjoys today). I am delighted to read that students continue to contemplate more than just salary and so-called perks.

As with my colleague's son, each individual needs to determine their own specific set of criteria for their own happiness. Framing the relative importance of what matters to one personally, and then assessing possible professions in terms of each is an enlightening experience (to graduates, as well as to parents and prospective employers).

The mentioned job categories in the Times' article were but a few: public service, government, science, and teaching. These general categories could be expanded to include more specific aspects of health care or legal aid, the performing arts or visual arts. And, of course, one should not overlook assessing the financial sector alongside all these others. What's important to you, the profession-seeking graduate? How do your options stack up against those things that matter to you? Where do options fall short? Is there anything that can be done to make an option more attractive, given how it is rated? Seeing the whole picture, and understanding the reasons behind each option's relative position to others can be instrumental in securing a profession in which one is happy.