Meeting Recruiting Deficiencies With Veterans in the Classrooms

摘要

Both the U.S. military and U.S. public schools are facing challenges manning their systems. The military has contended with manning difficulties since the completion of the downsizing in the mid-1990s. Public schools currently struggle to meet teacher shortages all across the country. Neither problem is being alleviated with the current manning systems. If the military and the schools cannot meet their requirements, then our republic is at risk. This study proposes a solution to the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Education (DOE), designed to assist them in meeting their specific manning requirements. Currently the Troops-to-Teachers Program, resourced by DOE, provides referral assistance and placement services to service members and DOD civilian employees who are interested in beginning a second career as teachers or teacher's aides. With more aggressive implementation and robust resourcing, this program can increase the number of military veterans seeking teaching careers, thereby reducing critical teacher shortages. Likewise veterans as teachers increase the military influence in the lives of our youth, correspondingly strengthening DOD recruiting efforts.