Giving Freebies in Education

Channel 2 News on KJZZ reported that a recommendation was brought before the state board of education that would allow anyone with a Bachelor's degree take a test (I'm guessing the Praxis since all educators are required to take it) and receive their teaching license.

Well, it's not a huge surprise since not that many people want to stay here in Utah because pay is much lower so they go somewhere else. Some people want to stay and help improve our system here, but it's tempting to leave. You have to have money to create excellent opportunities, and teachers are just not able to do that with the funds they currently receive.

I worked hard for my teaching and coaching license received in December. I passed all my classes with high grades, finished practicum classes with excellent remarks, and completed my student teaching with high recommendations from both my cooperating teachers. I worked hard. So is it fair that someone that has never taught receive a teaching license? Do we really want people that have no experience teaching being the ones responsible for our kids to learn?

Just because you have the degree and the knowledge does not mean you can teach or coach. It's like my Rangers soccer coach, Lincoln. He was a nice guy, a personable salesman type, and he played soccer in California. However, the guy wasn't that great of a coach. The way he explained positions, formations, etc. was confusing to most people on the team. However, when I actually watched a video on soccer coaching I understood what was happening because the instructor knew how to TEACH the material because he TAUGHT soccer and COACHED soccer for so long. It's just like education. If you get someone that knows the material but does not know how to teach, the level of education we want kids to learn will never be taught.

We've all had those teachers that we could not learn from one bit. We just did not understand a word they said and we could not learn anything for the life of us. I had one teacher like that at BYU for Physiology. This guy was not usually a teacher. He was a professor in the Physiology department doing research, but did not teach the high end Physiology classes except for the year I had to take Physiology. Man did this guy not know how to teach. First of all, he did not graduate in any type of education, so he was not prepared to discuss Physiology with 18 - 25 year old students. Second, nobody ever prepared him how to teach. Third, the guy did not know how to explain anything. Here's a list of things he did that educators are specifically instructed not to do their first year of school:

He said: The book was not necessary because tests were based off of his lecture notes
Reality: His tests were actually parts of other professors' tests that required book reading. Plus, their lecture notes were not the same as his.

He said: Tests were not going to be worth much of the grade because he believes practice and repetition are key, so quizzes and labs would be a large factor for grades more than other classes.
Reality: Tests were still worth 60% of the grade, so if you failed one test you couldn't do better than a "C" grade.

He said: Come in and I'll talk to you whenever you need help.
Reality: Even when he was in his office (which he was hardly there during his posted hours) he would pass you off to the TA's because he was busy.

I received a "C" grade in the class because I studied hard for the final and aced it using study guides from other teachers. This guy should not be teaching Physiology. How did I learn Physiology? The Physical Education major at BYU required Exercise Physiology to be taken because it is part of the Praxis licensing exam. Our program had one designated teacher, Dr. Pat Vehrs. Dr. Vehrs knew how to teach. Everything my other teacher tried to teach was clarified and explained so much better in my Exercise Physiology class. I loved that class. I received an "A-" in the class. It was great.

Teachers must be properly trained in order to teach their subject of expertise. In my personal opinion, if someone can teach and they already have their degree than by all means give them the license so they can continue to help students improve. However, just giving people a license to pass a test is not the solution.