Posted on 12/26/2017 9:10:12 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
My recent columns have focused on the extremely poor educational outcomes for black students. There's enough blame for all involved to have their fair share. That includes students who are hostile and alien to the educational process and have derelict, uninterested home environments. After all, if there is not someone in the home to ensure that a youngster does his homework, has wholesome meals, gets eight to 10 hours of sleep and behaves in school, educational dollars won't produce much.
There's another educational issue that's neither flattering nor comfortable to confront. That's the low academic quality of so many teachers. It's an issue that must be confronted and dealt with if we're to improve the quality of education. Most states require prospective teachers to pass a certification test. How about a sample of some of the test questions.
Here's a question from a recent test given to college students in Michigan planning to become teachers: "Which of the following is largest? a. 1/4, b. 3/5, c. 1/2, d. 9/20." Another question: "A town planning committee must decide how to use a 115-acre piece of land. The committee sets aside 20 acres of the land for watershed protection and an additional 37.4 acres for recreation. How much of the land is set aside for watershed protection and recreation? a. 43.15 acres, b. 54.6 acres, c. 57.4 acres, d. 60.4 acres".
The Arizona teacher certification test asks: "Janet can type 250 words in 5 minutes, what is her typing rate per minute? a. 50wpm, b. 66wpm, c. 55wpm, d. 45wpm." The California Basic Educational Skills Test asks the test taker to find the verb in the following sentence: "The interior temperatures of even the coolest stars are measured in millions of degrees. a. Coolest, b. Of even, c. Are measured, d. In millions". A CBEST math question is: "You purchase a car making a down payment of $3,000 and 6 monthly payments of $225. How much have you paid so far for the car? a. $3225, b. $4350, c. $5375, d. $6550, e. $6398."
My guess is that these are questions that an eighth- or ninth-grader with a good education ought to be able to answer. Such test questions demonstrate the low bar that states set in order for one to become a certified teacher. Even with such low expectations, college graduates have failed these and similarly constructed teacher certification tests. Recently, New York, after being tied up in court for years, dropped its teacher literacy test amid claims of racism.
A 2011 investigation by WSB-TV found that more than 700 Georgia teachers had repeatedly failed at least one portion of the certification test they were required to pass before receiving a teaching certificate. Nearly 60 teachers had failed the test more than 10 times, and one teacher had failed the test 18 times. There were 297 teachers on the Atlanta school system's payroll who had failed the state certification test five times or more.
With but a few exceptions, schools of education represent the academic slums of colleges. They tend to be home to students who have the lowest academic test scores -- for example, SAT scores -- when they enter college. They also tend to have the lowest scores when they graduate and choose to take postgraduate admissions tests -- such as the GRE, the MCAT and the LSAT. Professors at schools of education tend to have the lowest level of academic respectability. American education could benefit from eliminating schools of education.
You might ask: Without schools of education, how would teachers be trained? I think that we ought to adopt a practice whereby teachers are hired according to their undergraduate major. I learned this talking to a headmistress of a private school. She said she doesn't hire education majors. She said that if she hires a teacher to teach chemistry, math, English or any other subject, the person must have a bachelor's degree in the discipline. Pedagogical techniques can be learned through short formal training, coaching and experience.
they make pretty dang good money now...don't believe the hype about the "poor" teachers...
One of our overseas friends started as a primary school teacher when she f graduated from HS. We used to produce thousands of well educated teachers from are Normal colleges. What happened? Do you really need a masters to be a good teacher?
I wonder if the problem is less that our student's can't learn STEM, and more that our teachers can't teach STEM anymore.The teachers are also a product of the last generation of university education, too.
-PJ
I see this as an arcane question. I don't fault anyone for failing to notice that 3/5 is 12/20, and hence the largest. Math rules.
Reflect upon the fact that college instructors do not need an education degree, they just need to know the subject.
For the shortage of high school STEM teachers, I would just change the rule to: if you have taught the subject at college for two years, then you are automatically qualified to teach high school classes.
This is not a particularly difficult question. I put it more in a "general education" category than a hard math question. Every teacher above kindergarten should be able to answer it without blinking an eye.
If you think this is "arcane" what happens when the kids get to algebra? Or, a little bit of trigonometry anyone?
Sure, there are bad schools that use these types of ‘teachers’, but the WONDERFUL public schools my kids go would NEVER, EVER, consider using those people. Why my wonderful public schools only choose the brightest to teach my kids, and I know, because that’s what they told me (...and besides, they’re free, so why give a damn who’s teaching there anyway)
It's hardly arcane. This is from a qualifying test for teachers. This the sort of problem teachers need to decipher for students along about fifth or sixth grade. They can't explain it if they can't handle it themselves.
No. But you do need a masters to make good money.
Paging Betsy DeVos. Would like to hear what changes she has made & when will she end common core??
My oldest son went to a private middle school. Three of my daughters went to a private Christian school.
Both of these schools paid teachers around 25% of the salary of local public school teachers, and both of them had between 30-60 applicants for any vacancy.
The idea of universal, diverse public school education through Grade 12 is an idiotic fantasy. Until we give it up, nothing will get better.
Yes, obviously, you would have better teachers if you staffed the "system" with subject matter experts. You would have better letter carriers if you hired only English majors (I was an English major, and a letter carrier).
But how many capable subject matter experts do you think would be willing to work under the conditions that obtain in most public schools today? There are 3.2 million FTE public school teachers as of this Fall.
People who take this on face a sullen, restless, hostile group of adolescents who neither want to be there nor are willing to comply with minimal organizational requirements.
And you think you can get three million people who are better than the current crew to subject themselves to this?
The problem is not how to organize a proper school. They know how to do that in Borneo, and in Pakistan. The problem is not what makes a good teacher. They know that in Swaziland, and in Latvia.
The problem is massive resistance to compulsory high school education by students with IQs of 85 or less who are physically mature and unafraid of what passes for discipline, and until you fix that, the issues of spending, buildings, curriculum, and teacher standards are like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
Universal compulsory diverse education through age 18 happened.
Do you think there are 3.2 million such people who would be willing to do the work?
The boys get violent, and the girls get pregnant.
Everybody knows that.
I don’t know. If you ask me, the question is aimed at the lowest common denominator.
One quick glance can see that 3/5 is the only one greater than 1/2. You don’t need to know exactly how much greater to answer the question.
Most common sense people will think of pieces of a pie and immediately see 3/5 as the biggest piece of the pie.
Teachers (at least at ISU, Normal) are trained to avoid common sense and live in a world of semantic fantasy.
But that's not even necessary to arrive at the correct answer. Only one of the fractions is greater than 1/2.
I was a ground, simulator, and in-flight instructor in the military. I taught college as an adjunct. My old school district approached me about coming back and teaching STEM.
I’d only need 2 years of “education” courses, and take an immediate 70% pay cut.
I passed on the “opportunity”. . .
My high school Physics teacher was a former Navy SH-3 Helo pilot. His former career REQUIRED an intimate understanding of 'Applied Physics'.
College Educational Departments are simply Arthur Murray Dance Studios for instruction in the NEA Minuet.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.