Apr 3, 2012

ARTICLE: Flawed Solution

Tennessee Senate OKs Automatic High School Teaching License for College Instructors 

"SB 2302 would allow any college instructor to receive a license to teach their subject of expertise without additional training in education if they have taught in a certified college or university full-time for two years or part-time for four years." 

Most of my college instructors read from sheets of paper, so this sounds like a great idea. When a PhD begins reading an endless stream of impressive knowledge, I'm sure high school students will benefit greatly. When you hear information, you learn information... I think that's right.

Comment from P. Alan Greene: You know what? Whatever-- just let them do it. A small percentage will actually be quite good. The rest will retreat in shock and dismay that their students do not hang on their every word and won't behave for them just because they have a PhD. 

Yep.

Comment from bklein153: BRAVO Tennessee. It is about time someone challenged the "education schools" cartel. The only reason there are requirements that you get a teaching certificate to teach hs is to protect the monopoly that school have and to limit competition for current teachers. Honestly, most education programs in college are a joke. Have you ever met anyone who was majoring in just education in college that truly impressed you intellectually? Oh course not. My roommate was an early education major and he had assignments like - make a puppet and create a collage. It was a joke, we all studied and he was cutting cray-paper and playing with rubber cement. They need to extend this to people who have worked in theri fields for years. My father was an PhD engineer for Rockwell (yes a rocket scientist) and when he retired early he was told he needed a teaching certificate from a local collage to teach high school science - and that ladies and gentlemen is why public education suck in america! 

Or, we want to maintain the integrity of our profession. It's not about regurgitating information or even experience. We teach young people a host of skills, build their confidence, and turn boring into engaging and valuable. The priority should be heart, not degree. If everyone with a PhD could enter the field, the guaranteed frustration and exodus would lead to instability.

Competition, you say? Another example of the business-model poison that has entered our schools. It's not competition that improves education--in fact, it's the opposite. To improve, we share and collaborate.

If a puppet allows a first grader to act out story elements or a collage helps a second grader to summarize, it's worth it. Teachers will use anything and everything to teach. We will buy it, find it, borrow it, make it, or download it.

If America's education system sucks, it's for this reason. Everyone in America--from the President to the governor to the computer mogul to the district administrator to the online commenter--believes his opinion matters. He believes his incredible, unquestionable insight is above research and experience. Instead of working to improve the system from the inside, he would rather take potshots from the outside. 

Grab your chalk... I'll compete for my classroom.

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