One Problem with Education

It's too easy to become an educator (not just teachers, admin too), and too easy to get tenure.  It's not quite the same thing, but I happen to know a teacher who works in early childhood education.  One of the substitute teachers at her school just received her degree in ECE, has several years of experience as a sub and is now looking for her own classroom.  Only problem is that the woman is beyond incompetent and just not that bright - at least based on the stories I hear.  It's just way too easy to get "qualified".  Taking courses is not the same thing as teaching them.  

Somehow, I think said teacher, or many of the incompetents I've seen drifting through my own system, wouldn't have made it through law school, or med school.  If we want high quality teachers, we're going to need to start asking them to do a bit more than sit through some bullshit pedagogy courses.  There are some more intensive programs out there, but teacher programs should definitely see themselves as gate-keepers.

Private schools are often pointed out as examples of schools that work because without tenure, they can weed out the bad teachers more easily.  And they don't require as much in the way of qualifications.  The problem with this line of thinking is that there are private (generally parochial) schools that don't do a very good job, and public schools that do, despite having tenure.

In the end, I'm still very supportive of teacher rights and having those rights enforced by unions, too often I've seen schools struggle not because of the dearth of qualified teachers, but because of the lack of administrative ability (or a terrible combination of the both).  Teachers should not suffer because of the whims of incompetent administration.  On the other hand, something needs to happen to more effectively weed out those who shouldn't be in front of a classroom in the first place.