Jennifer Clyburn Reed

"Graduating with a massive amount of debt is especially detrimental in the teaching profession. With salaries the way they are, it can take 10-plus years of aggressive payment to eliminate that debt. The Apple Core Initiative offers a $3,000 scholarship to help offset costs for teacher candidates who may go into the areas where we need them the most, which are also the areas that pay the least. We’ve also created multiple paths to matriculate through the education major. We have all four years planned out — including study abroad — but we’ve made it flexible. Students who change their major or concentration need to be able to do that without slowing down."

"My sister figured that out second semester, senior year — after student teaching. That’s why I think we need a restructuring of the entire program, so they’re getting teaching experience from the very beginning and can see if it’s something they really, truly want to do. Now, I went through four years as a political science major, thinking I wanted to go to law school. But my sorority started a tutoring center in Hendley Homes, and a fourth-grader told me after he passed his first multiplication test all year, “Didn’t you say you want to be a lawyer?” I said, “Yes! I’m going to law school in a couple months!” He said, “You shouldn’t do that. You’d be a better a teacher."

"But then you run the risk of not being able to provide for a family for a number of years. I do see what you mean in terms of how college is structured versus how high school is structured. Maybe, though, we need to rethink how high school is structured. If we start there, when they get here maybe they’ll be ready to start down a career path."

"We’re the profession that makes all others. If a parent tells me they don’t want their child to go into teaching, I have to ask, “Why?” They give excuses about the money, about how hard teachers work, and it’s true, it’s not glamorous. But the benefits outweigh all the negatives. Seeing a student from 20 years ago tell you all the great things in their life — I spent 25 years in the classroom, elementary school and middle school, before transitioning to the College of Education at USC, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything."

"Being able to experience what you think you want to do as early as possible is critical."