When I was teaching in Los Angeles, my father once visited my classroom. He sat in the back for six hours, observing, then told me he could easily teach the class, despite his lacking teaching license/credential. He has a history degree from Cornell, is very articulate and gregarious, therefore I didn’t disagree. But when it came to classroom control—and area where I struggled as a young teacher—I told him he would have major issues in this arena since he was not “trained” in “how” to manage a class of rowdy urban youths. He scoffed, disagreeing. I scoffed back, acting like a typical teacher who thought my job was of utmost difficulty.
But now, four years removed from the education world, dozens of published articles and a book later, I agree with my dad for the most part: he could easily teach history without a credential based upon his knowledge of the subject matter. The management skills would come eventually due to his life experiences and demeanor.
Indiana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Bennett, concurs. His “controversial” plan (deemed “controversial” by local liberal media) seeks to “improve schools by improving teachers.“ It’s a novel idea, and is naturally opposed by teachers seeking the status quo, who fear necessary change.
In fact, fatuous educators and academics are so distraught that they gathered at IUPUI on September 22 to challenge Dr. Bennett’s ideas. Their main argument: “teachers don’t teach content; they teach students.“ One might ask what on earth that means, as it’s as cliché and vapid as lines you’d hear at an anti-war march or PETA rally.
Consider the religious schools having teachers lacking knowledge of Judaism/Christianity, the Hebrew language, the Bible or each religion’s proud history. Would they be effective just because they knew how to “reach students”? Of course not, and this misguided attitude among the schooling establishment is why education is one of the few areas America lags behind the world. When I taught, more time was given to Black History month, eco-alarmism and guilt-ridden multi-cultural dance festivals, than World War 2, essay writing and long division. The former may “feel good” in empty/politically correct academia, but only the latter will enable our youths to succeed when they’re adults in a competitive global economy.
Returning to “the audacity of Bennett,“ local news reports called the changes “radical.“ In effect however, they’re simple and imperative for our children’s success. And since we realize how vitriol and misinformation can obfuscate the best plans, here is what Dr. Bennett and the state actually seek:
1. Streamlining the relicensing and professional development of existing teachers
2. Making it easier for other professionals to become teachers
3. Requiring future educators to earn more college credits in the subjects they intend to teach, and fewer on how to teach. {emphasis added}
“Our goal is to ensure educators are highly knowledgeable in the content areas they’re teaching,“ said Bennett. “These licensing recommendations will put the focus on teachers’ content knowledge and instructional skill while giving teachers and administrators greater flexibility and freedom to improve instructional quality.”
Educators, no doubt apoplectic over Bennett’s lack of interest in the over-stressed “how” portion of instruction, claim the proposals “degrade the profession.“ Name calling is regularly a hallmark of worried teachers.
But there’s also an enticing caveat: With the new system, Indiana will be in line to receive a portion of $4.35 billion in federal competitive grants. That changed the persuasion of one group.
“We believe changes we discussed will be better for the kids and that is the ultimate goal,“ said Teresa Meredith, ISTA vice president.
This shocked but pleased me, as in Los Angeles, it was more common to find homeless celebrities than union crazies in agreement with sentient reform advocates.
Smaller districts are less concerned with funding and more concerned with staffing flexibility, thereby supporting Bennett’s plan more than groups in heavily-populated (and underachieving) areas.
In (left-leaning) cities with massive bureaucracy and (liberal) interest groups, like Gary or Indianapolis, forces against change are ready for resistance. Many hope that knowledge of a subject is not the main criteria. Heaven forbid an 8th grader knows where Iraq is on a map!
“Without the capacity to differentiate and know how students learn and teach the individual students, that knowledge can be irrelevant at times because we don’t teach content. We teach students,“ said Nicole Law, principal of Garden City Elementary in Wayne Township and recipient of a $25,000 National Educator Award in 2008 from the Milken Foundation. Of Mrs. Law’s has 13 years of experience, half of them have been in administration.
In the end, like most Americans, teachers enjoy talking about change, but prefer thestatus quo to even moderate and genuine change.
As the Washington Post’s Michael Kinsey pointed out a few weeks ago:
“Americans are in total agreement that change is essential, in the abstract. But as soon as it seems that change might actually happen, we panic. We suddenly develop nostalgia for the comforts of the status quo. Sure, we want change—as long as everything can stay just as it is.“
Indeed.
Ari Kaufman
A shorter version of this article was published in today’s Indianapolis Star
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