CJT wrote:
Some observations:
1. "Education" is the only discipline in which one can earn a
terminal degree without knowledge of a foreign language.

I doubt that's generally the case. Just because one university makes
that decision doesn't mean they all do.

Easy to check. You just have to find one discipline.


2. The school district in which I live is the largest in a large
state. Teachers make up 40% of the employees. Sure, you've got to
have bus drivers and people to print paychecks, but is it reasonable
to have less than half of your staff doing what the organization is
supposed to be doing?

Clearly it would be good to have a higher percentage of teachers. But
schools today have to deal with No Child Left Behind.

And the reason "NCLB" exists is because....?


3. I taught high school physics and chemistry. I had more math
courses under my belt than the 11 math teachers in the school.
Combined.

Kudos to you, but that's not an indictment of education in general --
at most, it's an indictment of your school.

Well, I cheated. I had a master's in Match and the math teachers were, in
most cases, education majors.


4. Once upon a time I did a little research. The following were NOT
legally qualified to teach in the public schools of my state:

A. All living Nobel Laureates.
B. All living winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
C. All winners of the Fields Medal
D. All winners of the Edgar, Hugo, Caldecott or similar literary
prize. E. All members of the federal appellate judiciary.
F. All living ex-presidents.
G. All of the members of the U.S. Senate that I could check.

Sure. Those folks don't have teaching certificates. But they clearly
could get them. If teachers got better pay, more folks of that
caliber might.

Yeah, but why would they WANT to? Consider a retired PhD in Chemical
Engineering. He's got about 22 years of classroom experience (as a student)
plus, as a graduate student, he's probably taught undergraduate classes at
the university. Does he really need a class in "Advanced Blackboard
Technique" or "Compreshensive Lesson Plans"?

So the school district has the football coach teach chemistry. Bah!

Better pay? Surely you jest.

I got to talking to the Walmart "Greeter," your standard old coot, on a
recent trip. He works four hours, three days a week, just to keep busy. I
asked him what he did before he retired; he was a large-building architect,
and designed many of the office buildings in my town. Does anyone have any
doubt he could teach high school plane geometry off the top of his head? Or
Algebra? Or even Physics?

Could a retired physician or registered nurse teach high school biology
without cracking the text?

Professionals such as physicians, chemists, surveyors, electrical engineers,
et al, don't live in a vacuum or a cave. They TEACH (patients, customers,
users, their boss) every day.

And so on.



No, the education system in the U.S. is broken - the inmates are in
charge of the asylum.