The College Model
There’s an old phrase, guaranteed to fire-up anyone who works in a classroom: “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach”. Before we get into all of that, may I point out that the line is from a 1905 play, Man and Superman, by George Bernard Shaw. If you recognize that name, thank a teacher.
There’s an ongoing fallacy: literally “anyone” with an education can teach. It’s based on the old college model. College professors often have no training in how to impart knowledge to their students, other than the simple experience of sitting in classes (watching others who had no training in how to impart knowledge to their students, who watched others…you get the point). Need a better example? Go down to your local auto mechanic and watch him/her work. A few might be able to clearly explain what a torque converter does and why you need a new one. But most simply get the job done, and us laymen have faith in their ability, and pay the bill.
Experience
Look, we all have a lot of “educational” experience. Almost everyone lived through thirteen years of school, and many spent even more years of college, post-college, or other training. We’ve seen lots of “practitioners” of teaching, so much so, that another “old line” applies: “Familiarity breeds contempt” (St Augustine – 5th century, if you know him, thank a teacher).
For those who continued their education beyond high school, there was a lot of motivation in the college classroom. Back in my day, it was a dollars and cents approach. Each semester course cost about $600, in 1977 dollars. Whether the professors were amazing (I had a few) or terrible (a few of those too), I wanted my money’s worth. Today at that same institution, those semester courses cost $7000, almost twelve times what it cost “in my day” (this “math block” kid figured that out – thank a teacher). That’s real motivation.
Public School
But in pre-school, primary school, intermediate school, middle school and high school: those kids aren’t making advanced mathematical calculations with 2023 dollars. (Here’s a challenge, what grades are in each of those different educational environments? Answers at the end of the essay.) Students in public school are going to school because they have to. Our society, rightfully, determines that our citizens need education. It maintains our culture, our democracy and our economy. And the folks that provide that education need to have two very different skills. First, they need to know their subject areas. But, second, and perhaps more important, they need to know how to impart that knowledge to someone else, whether the someone else is intrinsically motivated to learn, or not.
Teachers go to college to learn their subject. For me, courses in American and world history and politics; economics, geography, sociology and psychology helped me “know” what to teach. But, even in the “bad old days” of the 1970’s, we had several classes on “how to teach” rather than just “what to teach”. Add to that, an “apprenticeship” under a “master teacher”. Mine was the last semester of my college career. And once a teacher actually gets a job, there’s another year of “journeyman” status, and more “dollars to donuts” in post-graduate work.
How to Teach
Why all of this training? Because kids “learn” differently: some different than I do, some different than you do, and some different than almost any other kid in school. And teachers are taught/trained to search for multiple ways to reach each of those differing learning styles. Here’s “the” list:
- Visual learners
- Auditory learners
- Kinesthetic learners
- Reading/writing learners
- Logical/analytical learners
- Social/linguistic learners
- Solitary learners
- Nature learners.
Perhaps you recognize yourself in one or more of those “styles”. And perhaps you have no clue what some of the others are (nature learner?). Just like our car mechanic understands how a torque converter works and when it needs replacement for a Chrysler, Ford, or a Toyota; so teachers have to know and apply all of the different “styles” in any given lesson plan to reach all the different students.
There is also another factor: teaching as an “art”, and teaching as a “science”. There are some who intuitively understand how to reach different students with differing ways of learning. Those folks find teaching an “art”, a talent that can be improved and polished, but ultimately an innate skill, “born” into them. They are “naturals” at teaching.
And there are others who need to have a more elaborate process to prepare their instruction. They need a “playbook”, carefully planned, with “branches” to reach all of the differing learners. They often are very good teachers, meticulously prepared for their class. Teaching is a “science” for them, an outcome of a practiced procedure.
And the “best” teachers are both, “art” and “science”. You remember them – because they are likely the ones you learned the most from.
Teacher Shortage
The state Senate of Ohio has determined that “teacher training” is “overrated”. Today they claim there is a shortage of teachers, with fewer students going into the profession, and many “old” teachers looking forward to their promised “gold standard” retirement (that’s a whole different essay). Like many other jobs in our current boom employment market, the answer should be to make teaching more attractive. Higher wages, improved working conditions, better “perks”: that’s how the economy usually deals with employment shortages (understand those economics; thank a teacher).
Instead, Ohio is considering lowering the qualifications to teach (WCMH). No need to go through all of that “education on educating”, let’s go to straight to the “college model”. If you’ve got the academic degree, Ohio may grant you a teaching license. Here’s the problem. Instead of bringing folks who know “how to teach” to the classroom, Ohio will supply folks who just know what to teach. They can put that torque converter on a Ford, like them, maybe. But what happens when a Nissan shows up in their classroom?
Rookies
Of course these “rookies” will have a “master-teacher mentor” to guide them. But that “master” will still have their own classroom, their own planning, their own preparation to get through. And they’ll have an “apprentice” who can’t even speak the language of the profession. They don’t know a torque converter from a torque wrench. So will Ohio really “fix” the teacher shortage – or continue to do what Ohio has done in the past: transfer more work onto teachers who already are beyond overload? Instead of biting the bullet of better working conditions, the state is trying to pass the buck, again. And that buck stops on a teacher’s desk (recognize that phrase; thank Harry Truman, and a teacher).
Want to fix the “teacher shortage”? Don’t dilute the profession with amateurs who will have to learn on the job, to the detriment of their students. We all know what to do – make education a more attractive job category. It’s not just pay, it’s reducing all of the extraneous duties that saddles today’s teachers. There’s so much more of that than this old veteran teacher had in twenty-eight years in the classroom. I guess I taught in the “good old days”.
And finally, stop telling teachers they are folks that “can’t”. We fully know that they are skilled professionals that “can”, and already “do”, the job. Need public education fixed: ask a teacher.
Answer: Pre-School 3, 4, 5 years old; Primary K-1-2-3; Intermediate 4,5; Middle 6,7,8; High School 9,10,11,12.
