In this week’s Pope Center Clarion Call, Larry Sand writes about the feebleness of most American education schools. He’s a graduate of one and, as a teacher outside of the education establishment, can see how they get in the way of the ideal training of teachers.
Our K–12 system works poorly for many reasons, but one of the main reasons is the mandate that (with a few exceptions) schools must employ “certified” teachers, who can obtain certification only if they first get their education-school credentials. Doing away with that mandate would compel ed schools to do a much better job — by abandoning their opposition to “old fashioned” teaching techniques that are effective and their enthusiasm for “social justice” advocacy — or else go out of business.
When the Army medically retired me, the Veterans Administration rehabilitated me into a useful citizen by sending me back to school to get my teaching certificate. Even though I already had a bachelors and a masters degree, I had to take seven quarters of "Education" classes, and then pass a state test. The level of scholarship in the classes was pathetic, and even then over a third of students who had completed the course work routinely failed to pass the test on the first attempt.
The certification serves as a gatekeeper, even here in Georgia, where public employee unions are prohibited by the state constitution. Certification systems works for those who are already in the system, and for school administrations. I was able to add a teaching field to my certificate based upon passing a multiple choice test and having taken three courses in the field back when Nixon was president. And since I am certifiied by the state, my school district has the ability to approve the addition of a temporary, provisional, special, exceptional, double-secret certification that can allow me teach nearly any subject in any grade, regardless of any abilities or qualifications (really useful if yoou need to add a defensive coordinator for your football team in a hurry).
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAh yes. In my other reply (which already appears higher on this page), I forgot to mention one other thing: Schools often hire teachers because they really want coaches.
Multiple choice question: A school needs a math teacher. There are three applicants:
1. This applicant has two degrees, one in (non-ed) math, and one in education. He has successfully taught math for five years, only being on the job market now because his wife (a corporate VP at a major company) was transferred and she didn't dump him.
2. This applicant has one degree, a B.S.Ed in Cultural Diversity with a strong minor in math. She has taught math successfully for one year.
3. This applicant was not college material, so he went directly from high school to the Army. There being no jobs for machine gunners when he got out, he used his vets benefits to get a teaching credential, emphasizing Physical Education. He took a multiple choice test and got an endorsement to teach math, even though he's never done it before. He was an all-state football star in high school, and knows a thing or two about how to coach as a defensive coordinator.
Did you pick number 3? Excellent! Go to the head of the class. Just be sure that number 2 won't sue.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseA friend of mine recently underwent teacher training in MA (she wanted to teach grammar school). The program was heavy on such 'important' topics as diversity and cultural sensitivity training (for example, in one class. the prof, though white and living in a very upscale area, taught that whites only got where they did because of their skin colour etc. - in another, Islamic gender apartheid - separate AND unequal - was praised - as it was their culture). However, on things such as curriculum and lesson developement, teaching methods (you know, reading, arithmetic and other snoozer topics) etc. there was hardly any training.
If this is what teachers are required to 'teach', no wonder we are doing so badly.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhere does this happen? I went through a State College MST Program and never had one diversity course. We had the same useless Piaget and Gardner and Bloom edubabble, but nary a course on diversity.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWishful thinking, George.
The installed base of ed-college grads, and ed-college professors, are likely to keep the pipeline moving even if there are alternatives to the credential system.
Besides, what makes you think that teachers will be hired based on command of improved teaching techniques? New hires are likely to have little relevant experience that address the circumstances of their hiring schools. One need only look at existing programs that match recent grads from moderately elitist private colleges with teaching jobs at problematic urban schools (most likely because the grads cannot otherwise find a job, and credentialed teachers prefer to work elsewhere).
And, what makes you think that radical "social justice" advocacy will be reduced? Again, it's the pipeline thing. Activists want to hire other activists. Unless there is a credible quantitative measure of results, and that measure is applied as well to the hiring administrators (or faculty committees) rather than just to a revolving group of transient new hires, selection ultimately comes down to picking those who say what those already installed want to hear.
Development of credible quantitative measures is itself a big issue. For example, if a non-elite high school is very good at having its grads placed in elite colleges, is that good? Not necessarily; the school might simply choose to get behind a limited number of students, write good references for them regardless of merit, and so forth. Would a good measure be number of students who continue their education? Ah, but as is often noted here, that could be counter-productive and economically burdensome. Might it be standardized test scores? Maybe, but above a minimal level, there are portions of society that work in areas that the tests don't address (I don't listen to a pianist based on her grades in trig, or her SAT in Chemistry).
For any kind of credible quantitative measure, there would have to be statewide or preferably national standards, meaning a standard curriculum (at least in some subjects). But that's not what conservatives want, is it?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseA more immediate solution would be to require all teachers to hold an undergraduate degree in an academic subject. History Teachers,for example, ought to hold at least a BA in History. Currently, we allow Ed Majors, Psych Majors, Anthro Majors, et alia to teach history. That's just wrong.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBut the trend is exactly opposite. A friend, a professor of Physic at a local college, tells me the prevailing theory is that the "teachers" can teach any subject as they are just their to facilitate student learning.
See, it's all in the book and being able to explain thermodynamics three or four different ways until it clicks in the muddled student's head, is not required. As well, I assume, explaining the solution step by step rather than stating, "it can be shown."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseCaptcha: "good riddance" -- couldn't pass it up. I would be all for getting rid of state ed department certifications, requiring at least an ordinary BA major in the subject field along with just a few required courses in field-specific teaching methods and any other areas that are genuinely helpful. (Getting into the classroom not just to observe but to try out actual teaching, before the student teaching semester, is important too.)
Our secondary ed majors are still required to take a complete major in the subject area. The problem we run into is that they still insist on finishing within four years, including the student teaching semester -- during which the state doesn't allow them to take any other classes. This would be fine if the state didn't also require them to take so many low-value courses in education, but unfortunately they end up with such heavy loads of busy-work and so many of the majors classes clustered into certain semesters that they have little time to really absorb and reflect on the knowledge they are trying to gain. They also tend, then, to take less rigorous courses over the summer or by correspondence from other, state, institutions to try to mitigate the crush of classes in the regular terms. (Our small private college doesn't have a regular summer term.)
We are not really unhappy to see that the number of ed majors in our own field is declining, however, because more who want to teach are simply doing their BA, concentrating on gaining subject area knowledge, and then taking alternative routes to certification. We are especially pleased to have our first grad in the Teach for America program and hope to see more going this route in particular.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI learned more about teaching in the first 90 minutes of my first substitute teaching job than I learned in any college course.
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