Addressing a Take on Education I Hear from Smart Conservatives

What coursework could teachers possibly take for a four-year degree and even beyond? What do they need all that education for? What would they do with a master’s degree?

Maybe teachers' transcripts look like this (and everyone gets an ‘A’):

Courses for Education:

• Methods of Gossip for the Teachers’ Lounge
• How to Choose a Cardigan for Each Day of the Week
• Practicing “The Teacher Look”
• The Best Way to Spend Your Long Summer Off
• How to Assign Projects Right Before Break
• Five Ways to Leave Work by 3:45
• Round Robin Reading and Other Stale Strategies
• Professionalism and the Viral Video
• Wielding Your Red Pen, 101
• Coffee Mugs & Apples: What to Do with All Those Gifts
• The Obnoxious Social Media Post: 10 Ways to Get Attention
• Tips and Tricks for Pop Quizzes They Won't See Coming

I would argue that despite its problems with mediocre staffing and bandwagon-jumping, education is a complex, demanding field. Thorough preparation makes all the difference to one’s performance. No matter how competent one might be in a given subject, that competence–taking into consideration the degree to which it translates into conscientiousness–does not necessarily ensure a smooth transition into teaching. I’ve had decades to observe the difference in how an otherwise well-educated individual versus a teacher college graduate acclimates to the classroom. Whether the non-education degree is in physics or English, without a complement of education courses or some kind of dedicated preparation, the rookie teacher is buried under all he doesn’t know, and it can take years to catch up.

Here are actual courses required to become an English teacher in California (at a small Christian liberal arts college, ‘92 to ‘96–the credential added another semester or more onto that):

• Undergrad Requirements: History of Civ., American History, Bible Courses, Composition, Sciences, Math, Philosophy, Ethics, Computers
• English Degree Elements: Literature–World, American, British, Christian–involving generous reading assignments, thick anthologies, literary analysis papers, and often two semesters each
• Also: literary criticism, grammar and advanced grammar, History of the English Language (delightful), and creative writing
• Undergrad Teaching Credential Prep: Educational Psychology, History and Philosophy of Education, Biological Health, Music Appreciation (201? very challenging, but excellent), Speech I and Speech II, hours of classroom observations at local schools with copious notes, Curriculum & Instruction (If there were one course to prepare for teaching, this would be it–given a calendar, you could plan a whole year of learning in a subject; you learned how to manage a class, understand state standards, design and deliver a lesson, choose a cardigan for the day, and much more. Tough class, but great no-nonsense teacher.)
• Teaching Credential Requirements: Student teaching in high school (1 semester) and junior high; Student Teaching Seminar (with text on classroom management and case studies; the Teaching of Reading course and discussion on interpreting data must have been a different class, or we had multiple texts); later, introduction to teaching English; Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Standalone Courses for my license in a new state and other certification:

• Instruction of Special Students (thorough, interesting, and helpful–a transformative semester of study on teaching students with special needs)
• Technology in teaching course (I took this online, and it was self-paced. Meh. Nothing new there, really. The text was already five years old, and there was ambiguity in how to build the lesson with multiple categories of standards. But it was managed pretty well, and I could create and use the assignments for classes where I subbed.)
• Another course on teaching English language learners (This course was also online. This time it was six weeks of intense reading, responding, and project creation that reflected one state’s laws connected to teaching English learners. Teaching English is an interesting area to me, and the school I work for remotely has a population of students who have English as their second language. But this was a demanding six weeks, with major projects announced and then due within days. For the first time, I had to use APA instead of MLA. I’m afraid I was high maintenance until I got over the shock.)
• Coming Up: An online class on MTSS (This is Multi-Tiered Systems of Support. Teachers are expected to understand and implement intervention for students at all levels of mastery. Students go from a layer of high-quality general classroom instruction to small group teaching, to individual support, if needed. MTSS requires management from teachers, administration, and other faculty.)
• Other possibilities to pursue: More data interpretation (from standardized testing to individual classrooms); curriculum design (standards, scope and sequence, goals and objectives, course mapping, alignment, reporting, and more); more specialized instruction for students needing support; education for gifted students

I acknowledge that today, an increasing number of teachers are earning master’s degrees. And not all of them deliver on what one thinks a masters should help confer: thoroughness, thoughtfulness, depth, experience. And honestly, I’ve seen course titles for master’s programs that look dubious.

The lack of distinguished performance from what should be upper-level graduates speaks a great deal, not of the whole idea of educators with postgraduate degrees (can you imagine!), but of the way institutions of higher learning process grad-level students these days, with plenty of online coursework that makes it easier for participants to just slide by. Some are not cut out for a tough program–or they aren’t really motivated to immerse themselves in it. Extra education is a box to check off. These unenthusiastic individuals should be screened out early, not waved through and handed a diploma. The blame for lightweight content in teacher programs also goes to trends and bandwagons which are embraced and leapt upon by whoever it is that offers the programs. The battle of educational ideas could be a whole series of separate posts.

With only my undergrad studies and my now lapsed state credential, I had excellent preparation for what awaited me when I stood up to face those rows of secondary students on my own for the first time. That original training further enabled me to build on my understanding and equip myself for my current faculty support position, mainly through a laptop and the vast resources of the Internet. Besides the minimum required for maintaining a certificate, I don’t feel the need (or have the sufficiently thick wallet) to go beyond what I have. But if and when I do, I’ll seek a solid program that will help me to help our school get the million and one details right, whether we’re organizing for efficiency, or writing and reviewing curriculum, or analyzing trends in our test data, or refining our classroom management, or just teaching more effectively. Like nuts on a first grader’s cheap birthday cupcake,* those solid courses are out there, nourishing and fueling indispensable personnel.

*Despite your module on “How to Prevent Allergic Reactions.”