public education problem
A few days back, I read a really interesting article by Malcolm Gladwell in the New Yorker about the difficulties of predicting who will be successful as a teacher. It’s an interesting article and it has shaken a little bit of my otherwise rock solid support for the current system of unions and tenure. Of course the problem with what Gladwell proposes is that in the real world of U.S. politics, we’d get the worst possible implementation of it. We’d lose tenure and job security without getting the more lucrative pay that, Gladwell correctly points out, is necessary to keep a realistic risk vs. reward structure in place.
I definitely think there’s something wrong with the state of education in this country when the block quote below is true. I’d say this is doubly wrong when, as we seem to know, that teacher training and credentialing as it exists does nothing to predict who will be good at being a teacher and who will not. The quote below is from TEACH California’s website. I find it ridiculous that our current system values someone with a bachelor’s degree in education over someone with a master’s degree in math or history.
Question: I have a master’s degree in the subject I wish to teach. Do I just need to pass the CBEST in order to teach in a k-12 classroom?
Answer: In order to teach, you must obtain a teaching credential; a master’s degree is not sufficient. Successfull completion of a teacher preparation program is required. You can easily locate teacher preparation programs by clicking on “Resources”, “Program Information”, and then “Find Credentialing or Graduate Programs”. Basic information about each program is provided. If you need more specific information, contact names and phone numbers are also included so that you can speak with the appropriate program staff.
