Teaching: the unprofession
I bumped into this gem while scanning some home school websites. Basically Illinois state educator Dave Arnold is rationalizing his paycheck by denigrating home schooling parents as "well-meaning amateurs". As someone who has worked both sides of this issue, let me be explicitly clear, teaching is not a profession. There are no special skills required to do it. Some characteristics are required to do it well, but doing it well has yet to be listed in the minimum qualifications paragraph of any state job application I've seen.
Unlike the technical jobs Mr. Arnold lists, teaching does not require the ability to do anything without a manual. Textbooks are paired with a teacher's guide that has additional notes in the margin and questions enumerated so that a state educator barely has to think, let alone prepare. Exams are included with textbooks and while most teachers make their own tests these are less an indicator of teaching expertise than a reflection of the sad truth that exams have to be dumbed down to allow for the information unabsorbed via mindless monotone.
The ability to teach is a gift - a talent I have rarely seen in state school facilities. I do have vivid memories of hearing Ms. Tomacelli yell daily at a classroom of exuberant 2nd graders. I have painful recollections of Mrs. Bailey reigning over a 400 student elementary school with the tyrannical zeal of Stalin and singling out energetic little boys for punishment in a humiliating form of playground pogroms. While there were, among the faculties, standout teachers who were dedicated to the noble cause of enlightening the next generation, their efforts were overshadowed and undermined by their "professional" cohorts. I worked in 17 schools as an itinerate teacher back in my state employee days and I was generally unimpressed with every last one of them.
The best evidence that teaching is not a profession, however, is that no education coursework is required to be a university professor. That's right. You can teach and get tenure at Harvard without so much as a single class in "education".
So if universities, the highest classrooms in the land don't require training in "education" but value content, then Arnold's argument is completely undermined by his own superiors. If, on the other hand, K-12 state educators are basing their professionalism on the ability to manage a classroom or create cute file folder games while handing out hall passes, then taxpayers need to reevaluate their pay scale and perhaps consider hiring artisans and cattle ranchers in their stead. Think of all the darling bulletin boards and the effective rustling of students from lunchroom to restroom to classroom.
If the true measure of an educator is the ability to impart knowledge and a love of learning to a child, then no one has a more vested interest than a good parent and in fact, the state education centers are run by little more than "well-meaning amateurs".
*** Note***
This response to Mr. Arnold's article is posted here because the nea website does not allow comments. (That just speaks for itself, doesn't it?)
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you're article is soooo good, Cate.
Comment by elmers brother— 2007/04/15 @ 06:34 PM — (Reply)
Comment by Ernie Els— 2007/04/15 @ 06:46 PM — (Reply)
Interesting point about "qualifications," Cate. I suspect that varies from state to state, because here in Minnesota, I am unable to teach mathematics (which I would very much like to do) without a college degree in education. Apparently, it is easier to teach education at Harvard than it is to teach arithmetic to 2nd graders in Minnesota??
Comment by Michael— 2007/04/16 @ 05:44 AM — (Reply)
You want to teach 2nd graders or university level math? Perhaps I wasn't clear in my explanation. To my knowledge (limited) an education degree is required to teach k-12 but not college in many states. That's the rub.
A Ph.D and often a masters qualifies you to teach at university (check you summer classes for those fill-in profs without a doctorate ;-) but to teach 2nd graders you need a degree in education. In fact, most elementary teachers are double majors to include some content area (Math, Language) with their overrated dose of "student herding" and "bulletin board design".
I graduated with my bachelor's from a 'normal' college - a university built and designed to pop out teachers. Interestingly, even at my alma mater, the profs outside the ed dept. had NO education training or coursework. NONE.
A local example for you: I need no ed classes to qualify for a tenure track faculty position teaching Spanish and Spanish lit at U of Minn. The "education" requirements are higher to teach high school introductory Spanish here in NC.
Comment by Cate— 2007/04/16 @ 06:43 AM — (Reply)
The result is that a fair number of college professors suck at actually passing on their knowledge to anyone "beneath" them. The balancing point has always been that at collegiate-level, we expect the student to be an adult, and thus be accountable for their own educational development. We can't hold the same expectations of children.
I'm not sure that you've proven your point, (that education is not a profession), but rather have merely pointed out that college education is seen as a different beast from K-12.
One doesn't need to be in the military in order to teach at the academies- does that mean that serving as an officer doesn't count as a profession either?
Comment by Michael— 2007/04/16 @ 01:48 PM — (Reply)
Comment by Michael— 2007/04/16 @ 03:22 PM — (Reply)
Interesting cryptic point Harry that begs the question what ARE college professors hired FOR?
A followup would be whether your answer to that has anything to do with Kent State's mascot julio pino?
Comment by Barry G.— 2007/04/16 @ 04:24 PM — (Reply)
The difference in hiring practices is irrelevant, here's why:
The job - imparting knowledge and judging student proficiency - is the same in most respects.
The idea that college students are adults is defied by the concept of en loco parentis - a custodial mission most universities embrace as evidenced by all of those ludicrous required courses for freshmen.
If the difference between university and K-12 teaching is based on the age and development of the student, then who on God's green earth is possibly in tune with a child more than his/her parent? The balding, potbellied 50 year old history teacher who doesn't even recognize the student's name outside of 3rd period without a seating chart?
BTW, I believe most parents who are paying for college would take exception with the idea that the primary mission of a prof is to publish. The implicit obligation to bring honor to the institution through research or publication is not what students rate on those moronic end of the semester instructor evaluations, and in fact, this aspect of the faculty position should never even enter the classroom or lecture hall, in my opinion. Such subjectivism inflicted through the tyranny of the lecturn is the main problem with modern university study. If published research has merit, it will stand on its own without endorsement by its author.
The idea of "educators" being educated by non-educators so that they can claim themselves uniquely qualified to educate is so profoundly ironic that you have to have an IQ below 50 not to scratch your head in awe at the audacity of its proponents.
Re: your reference to the academies - interesting point but reveals a lack of understanding of the military and the academies.
"Military officer" is not a profession. Officers are not classified simply by their rank but by their profession i.e. Engineer, Doctor, Chaplain, etc. Job classification (21 Bravo or whatever) identifies your profession (Engineer) and secondarily whether you enlisted or were commissioned.
Much like the Ph.d who teaches at UofM, the officers who teach at the academies are content experts not "educators" and they hold doctorates so they are on par with university profs at every major university in America.
Are their technical skills required to be a military officer? Yes. Are the requirements for leading a battalion somewhat arbitrary - ask the guy who got a battlefield commission during WWII - he'll say yes.
Are the requirements to teach arbitrary? Yes - most states have a lateral entry program whereby college educated adults can teach without a certificate while they pursue a license.
Constrast that with the oncologist. Are you going to let anyone with a BA diagnose your cancer?
Mr. Arnold set the parameters of his definition of "profession" when he implied that teachers are like electricians and plumbers - people with a certain technical proficiency that precludes the non trained from performing their work. The lateral entry program alone completely undermines his argument based on those parameters.
A lateral entry nuerosurgeon
Comment by Cate— 2007/04/16 @ 05:54 PM — (Reply)
Mr.Arnold never compared educators to doctors. He compared them to electricians, plumbers and car mechanics. Can someone do their own plumbing without official certification? Sure- the basics are pretty simple: Water goes downhill; seal up any leaks.
Does plumbing qualify as a profession? You can certainly do plumbing while pursuing official certification- so I suppose by your standards plumbing is not a profession, since any old joe or jill could "lateral entry" themselves into a plumbing job.
I only just now read the article, and I can understand your reaction, Cate. But as my wife said, when I read her your post, "Gosh, it must really suck where she's lived and worked." Both she and I have teachers in our family, and I have a strong hunch they'd take exception to your characterization of teachers in general. I'm sorry that you've had a string of bad teachers in your past, but like every profession, there are devoted professionals and ones with less devotion.
If you can't find an electrician willing or competent enough to hang your ceiling fan, or you simply decide to do it yourself, that doesn't mean electricianship isn't a profession, or that you've become a professional. And I've yet to meet a plumber that I'd be willing to allow to operate on my brain.
As for the collegiate level, if y'all aren't familiar with the education standards in academia, in general faculty are not paid to teach. They are paid to engage in research. Teaching is a secondary expectation of the position, and most "education" is passed off on the graduate assistants rather than engaged in by the professor themself. Graduate students are there to get a degree, not to educate, so their qualifications tend to suck as well, though presumably because they are closer to the student experience, they can have more connection...
That model has improved in recent years, but it's still the case that education, solely, is still a lower priority than research.
As for Julio and Kent State... well, I'll leave that to Kent State to decide if his publications merit the 'scholarly work' appelation. As for 'indoctrinating' his students in his politics: it's a fact of life, folks. Get over it. If you're not smart enough to see bullshit when it's laid out in front of you, then you shouldn't be in college. If you don't want to spew bullshit back in order to get a good grade in the class, then go sign up for another class. That's how college has ALWAYS worked.
Comment by Michael— 2007/04/17 @ 09:51 AM — (Reply)
I have worked with many good teachers but my point is that their education classes are not what made them great teachers. To pretend that teaching is an exclusive profession and that others cannot perform the job at the same level as self-proclaimed "professionals" like Mr. Arnold is ludicrous.
There are effective teachers who are without license and ineffective teachers with licensure - for Arnold to make sweeping generalizations about home schooling parents because he doesn't like the way curricula is advertised on a website is a damning measure of his own intellect. Period.
Comment by Cate— 2007/04/17 @ 10:16 AM — (Reply)
Comment by Ernie Els— 2007/04/17 @ 07:18 PM — (Reply)
Want me to agree that the shmuck is a pissant who ought to be fired and shunned? Sure. Easy as blowing my nose.
Want me to get my panties all in a bundle over this self-aggrandizingn wanna-be? Just not gonna happen. I've been on enough different campuses to have learned a long time ago that there are shmucks all over, and the one thing they tend to have in common is a need to justify their pitiful existence by taking alarmist positions and overinflating their relative worth. Ward Churchill, anybody?
Comment by Michael— 2007/04/17 @ 09:17 PM — (Reply)
Comment by Barry G.— 2007/04/18 @ 04:35 PM — (Reply)
Comment by Elmers Brother— 2007/04/16 @ 03:29 PM — (Reply)
Comment by Jean— 2007/04/17 @ 10:53 AM — (Reply)
Ya'll okay up there?
Comment by Cate— 2007/04/18 @ 05:23 PM — (Reply)
I work across the river from where the bomb threat was at, but as you might have read, one of the buildings was a library (Walter). A co-worker who was evacuated, emailed me to ask if she could get a ride home. That was the first I had heard of the alarm.
About 2 minutes later, I get a text message, from my brother in Paris, France asking if I was okay. So, I reassure him that it's on the other bank of the Mississippi, and actually closer to where my wife works.
Then I get the official email from Libraries management, explaining what all is going on. Okay, no concerns for our building, and while most of the buildings near where my wife works are being evacuated, hers is not.
A couple of more minutes, and my dad calls me up from the nursing home. It's all over the news, apparently. So, I reassure him- it's on the other bank, closer to where my wife works, but even she is safe, blah blah blah.
About 15 minutes pass, and then the phone rings. Caller ID says it's my wife, so I answer with a "Yes, I know you're safe, it was other buildings. I've got all the news about the bomb scare." She replies, "Bomb scare??"
Seems that even though it was happening just outside her building, noone at the University had bothered emailing anyone in her office or her building! Just a few hundred feet away, and my brother in Paris, my dad in the nursing home, and according to that time-stamp, even you in North Carolina, found out about the bomb threat before my wife did!
It's a small world sometimes...
Comment by Michael— 2007/04/19 @ 02:12 PM — (Reply)
Glad you and your wife are fine and that the scare was just a that and not another tragedy.
Comment by Cate— 2007/04/19 @ 04:06 PM — (Reply)
Comment by Barry G.— 2007/04/19 @ 06:26 PM — (Reply)