Well then, perhaps schools should not REQUIRE a college degree for applicants then. But I think if they did that, you would see only “Babysitting” level performance by the teachers. I know that many, perhaps even most teachers today are just indoctrinating rather than teaching. My suggestion would be to raise the level of courses needed to get the degree. When getting my Elem. Ed degree in the 60’s, I took electives in Math, chemistry, physics, child psychology, Literature, history, biology, etc. even business law and Phys Ed as it related to children’s health. I dare say I was much more than a babysitter or little house on the prairie one-room schoolmarm! Plus I never had to put my own 3 kids in daycare even once. I tutored kids with Dyslexia and other reading disabilities and even an occasional high school student struggling with Algebra, while my kids were too young to go to school, then brought them with me when they started school.
The problem is multifaceted with one of those facets being the education track for teachers in particular, but also for all college education in general.
Colleges used to hold themselves to very high standards and one went to college to be a ‘professional’, i.e studied in engineering, sciences, medicine, mathematics, real history, languages, and even arts. In order to get a degree in Mathematics, one still had to have mandatory courses in history, language, etc because a ‘well rounded’ education ‘broadened’ one to be more successful in life. Colleges have since become commercial oriented businesses and through PC and DEI require courses that are of little or no value and more indoctrination, and they are motivated to do so for the financial gain (more required courses, more course fees). Then they tell us one must have the degree to get a job.
A second facet is business models. Many businesses/professions require a degree just to be considered for employment. So the degree becomes a hoop one must jump through to get the job, which they will actually learn OJT once hired. So here is a hypothetical: Suppose Johnny Lee Hooker, who was home schooled, never had a diploma, ran away from home as a teen, came to your school music department and wanted to teach music. One would be a fool to turn away such a chance to pass on the gifts of such a talented blues musician, but by todays standards, he could not be hired. Instead some untalented DEI/PC candidate with a degree in womens studies would get the job, and the students lose.
I dont imply at all that a ‘good’ college education (which you and I both benefited from) will not enhance ones abilities at work. Quite the opposite, so long as its a ‘good’ education. In order to teach anything, one must be a subject matter expert in what one is teaching, so the more training in that area, the better. But there is also some minimum standard, and todays college degree sets a very low bar at a very high cost in terms of the quality of the product graduate. Yet much talent goes untapped in the area of early education because a retired professional with a degree and deep understanding of applied math, for example, cant teach with out going back to get an ed degree. This retired professional likely mentored many young professionals in his/her field over the years.
Likewise, when hiring, candidates should know they are competing against each other and the ‘best’ candidate should get job, despite diversity goals. So it behooves oneself to build a good resume of both education and experience. But saying a degree is required constrains a hiring manager from finding the best candidate when qualified candidates cant get in the door because they dont have some piece of paper that used to imply good things about the candidate but may not guarantee such anymore.
When getting my Elem. Ed degree in the 60’s, I took electives in Math, chemistry, physics, child psychology, Literature, history, biology, etc. even business law and Phys Ed as it related to children’s health.
You, and I, were educated in 'common sense'. So all the rest actually goes to good application.
Sadly common sense goes out the window with DEI and PC education.