How big a role does the age of your teacher(s) play? The school I teach at (private, junior-college-level language/business school) is in the process of replacing two teachers, who are leaving for family/personal reasons. The average age of the faculty members is about 45, which I myself feel is a bit old (I'm 48, and have just started my 23rd year at the school), so I'd prefer that people in their twenties or early thirties were hired. However, the school administration feels that young teachers don't stay long, either because they find better-paid jobs (there's a severe shortage of teachers here at present), decide to move on to another country (quite common among teachers of ESL, for example), quit to have kids, or burn out very quickly. Experience does count a lot, of course, but I wonder how many of us "oldies" lack the enthusiasm we once had, or understanding of the "younger generation" and its concerns. I can't say that I've seen that among most of my colleagues, but there are one or two I wonder about.
I've broached the subject with some of my classes, but I feel a lot of the kids are afraid to say what they really think for fear of insulting the older faculty members. Oddly enough, I did hear a number of complaints about our youngest faculty member (computer science teacher), but I don't think his problems have anything to do with his age (27, I believe), but with an inability to interact with people in general. But try finding another computer science teacher!
I've broached the subject with some of my classes, but I feel a lot of the kids are afraid to say what they really think for fear of insulting the older faculty members. Oddly enough, I did hear a number of complaints about our youngest faculty member (computer science teacher), but I don't think his problems have anything to do with his age (27, I believe), but with an inability to interact with people in general. But try finding another computer science teacher!