One problem is the inability to convince those who are skilled in these areas to become teachers. Anyone who does well in science and mathematics has a wide range of potential careers to choose from, and most of them pay considerably better than teaching.
The logical conclusion would be to raise the pay rates for teachers, thereby attracting more people with good science and math skills to enter the field.
The problem with this approach: there's no shortage of teachers! When my wife (an english teacher) applied for her job, there were 60 other applicants! In other words, it's a buyers' market, and school systems could easily get away with lowering the wages they pay; there will still be lots of teachers to choose from!
So, let's clarify the problem: There's a shortage of good science and math teachers -- not english, social studies, or art teachers. It makes sense. Those who are skilled at language, social studies, or art face a very limited set of career choices, and teaching looks really good to many of them. So, there are lots of eager young college students becoming language, social studies and art teachers and entirely too few becoming science and math teachers.
The vast majority of school systems use a single pay scale for all teachers. In other words, science and math teachers are paid the same as language, social studies and art teachers. In fact, most school systems have contracts with their teachers' unions that stipulate pay rates based on years of service, not field. So, we have a single pay rate resulting in an excess of language, social studies and art teachers and a shortage of science and math teachers.
One improvement would be to collect data on which type teachers actually find jobs upon graduation, and to make this data known to people considering a major in education. College students know that all teachers are paid at the same rate, and will lean toward the "easier" subjects of english, social studies and art rather than science or math as long as the benefits appear the same. But if it were made clear that the science and math teachers have a much easier time landing a job, it might help guide more the other way.
Unfortunately, college students don't normally think in terms of such difficulties. Most of them will still take the easier path to a degree, and worry about finding a job when the time comes.
So, the solution is simple: untie the pay rates of different types of teachers, and let free market economics do its job. The obvious and expected result would be that pay rates for science and math teachers would rise while the pay rates of language, social studies and art teachers would fall. And yes, you'll hear a lot of gripes from the language, social studies, and art teachers, so plan on it.
But in the long run, people considering getting a degree in education will have more tendency to specialize in science and math since they will have statistics in hand showing higher pay rates for those fields. College students are very much concerned about how much their prospective career will pay. And as a result, the school systems will have a better pool of science and math teachers to hire from. And our children will get a better education.
I have talked to some authorities about this, and I've been told that there are no laws or regulations preventing this separation of pay scales. Apparently, it's only inertia that prevents this change from being implemented. Since there are more english, social studies and math teachers than science and math teachers, the unions are likely to fight the idea. It's up to the citizens, who are more interested in a good education for the children than in protecting the status quo, to push for this change.
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Of course, if you have questions or comments, you are welcome to send e-mail to me at palmk@nettally.com.