End the Occupation! Liberals Out of Our Schools Now: Mathematics USA

This AP story does not surprise me:

Teachers’ schools flunk math prep

WASHINGTON (AP) — For kids to do better in math, their teachers might have to go back to school.

Elementary-school teachers are poorly prepared by education schools to teach math, finds a study being released Thursday by the National Council on Teacher Quality. […]

The study by the nonpartisan research and advocacy group comes a few months after a federal panel reported that U.S. students have widespread difficulty with fractions, a problem that arises in elementary school and prevents kids from mastering more complicated topics like algebra later on.

The report looked at 77 elementary education programs around the country, or roughly 5% of the institutions that offer undergraduate elementary teacher certification.

It found the programs, within colleges and universities, spend too little time on elementary math topics. […]

The report found significant differences in the number and kind of courses required by each education program.

Education schools also are not being selective enough, the report stated. Most require applicants to take an admissions test, usually around their sophomore year of college. But the test, which typically includes reading, writing and math sections, is far too easy, according to the report.

“Almost anyone can get in. Compared to the admissions standards found in other countries, American education schools set exceedingly low expectations for the mathematics knowledge that aspiring teachers must demonstrate,” said the report. […]

All right, let’s summarize. According to the NCTQ study:

(1) Admission requirements to math education programs are too low, resulting in unqualified students getting in.

(2) The education programs are not adequately preparing future teachers in the field they plan to teach.

This is inexcusable for many reasons.

First, we have created a vicious cycle in which academically sub-par candidates get into education programs, then are foisted ill-prepared onto schoolchildren, who grow up to be academically sub-par candidates in education programs, etc., etc.

Second, when these ill-prepared teachers enter the public school system (and most of them do; private and parochial schools generally don’t require a state teacher certification and consequently attract applicants with different backgrounds and experiences), they become permanent cogs in the Teacher Union machinery, where merit pay is as rare as the unicorn and teachers are immune from termination regardless of their job performance. If the parents of these unlucky children complain to the administration, they’re essentially wasting their time; it drains energy and money for a school district to fire a poor teacher, due to litigation initiated by the teacher union. And if parents, who possibly can’t afford a private school, want to send their kids to a different school by means of a voucher program, sorry, no dice.

So, what do we end up with? Government schools stuck with a certain percentage of poor teachers who will continue to teach unsuspecting children, who themselves will grow up with insufficient skills.

Oh yeah: For all this crappy service and crappy results, you get to pay more and more and more in property taxes!

And we wonder why there’s an education crisis, especially in math and the sciences.

* * * * *

I want to address in particular the finding that many education programs are skimping on courses adequately preparing future teachers in their field of expertise. What are these colleges teaching instead? This I can answer with some authority: PC bull crap, diversity bull crap, multiculturalism bull crap, self-esteem bull crap, and more PC bull crap.

How do I know this? Because I myself was in an education track in college and obtained certification from the State of NJ to teach secondary school foreign language. At my college – a well-respected mid-Atlantic state institution – it took three and a half years to complete one’s education coursework and student-teaching, starting from sophomore year and culminating with student-teaching off-site during the fifth year. (Yes, completing the education program required attending college for five years.)

Now, during my sophomore year, there were no courses related to my field of study or teaching methods. And even though I was merely a 20-year-old skull full of mush, I distinctly remember thinking to myself: But when do we learn how to teach?

During my junior year, there was one course on materials and methods, and one course devoted to educational psychology and adolescent cognition. And even though I was merely a 21-year-old skull full of mush, I still remember thinking: But when do we learn more about how to teach?

And all during my senior year, there was one course which focused on ways to use reading materials for teaching. And even though I was merely a 22-year-old skull full of mush, still I wondered: But when do we learn more about how to teach?

In sum, in three and a half years (i.e., seven semesters), the total number of courses actually devoted to teaching were ... three. And with that, my classmates and I were shipped out to our designated high schools to practice teaching on our teenaged guinea pigs.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying I learned nothing during that semester of student-teaching. Indeed, through that hands-on experience I learned quite a lot, and got to know a number of gracious and motivated young people. That was the point.

But still, what kind of courses filled the rest of those seven semesters? Well, this was back in the early 90’s, but I can remember that they were all courses on race, diversity, multiculturalism, and tolerance. One class was dedicated to nothing but the issue of black kids and white kids together in school. What was this, I would wonder, 1954?

There were also courses focusing on sensitivity, fostering self-esteem, and alternative ways to evaluate students without such stigmatizing notions as grades, competition, and class tracking.

As Michelle Malkin put it in her account of this story:

1 + 1 = I feel good about math, so who cares?

Assuming nothing has significantly changed in the past 15 years, the same college education departments are still packing their programs with the same kinds of courses. And that is a huge problem. Instead of training education students to satisfactorily teach their field, they are training them to be sensitive, coddling, overly-tolerant government-paid babysitters.

* * * * *

So are there ways to solve all these problems? Well, actually yes, there are actually several:

Demand that colleges ditch the politically correct, diversity, multiculturalism, self-esteem garbage, and teach their education students what they really need to know to be effective teachers. But which party reveres the PC-dominated, self-esteem-emphasizing approach to education? The Democrats.

Demand teacher accountability and merit pay, eliminate the protectionist concept of tenure, and allow schools to fire poor teachers without fear of frivolous litigation by teacher unions. But which party is beholden to the teacher unions? The Democrats.

Stop taxing the crap out of parents to fund failing government schools, and empower them to choose their children’s school with vouchers. But which party vehemently opposes vouchers more than they oppose gun rights? The Democrats.

Allow parents to use their property tax money toward the schools they choose for their children. But which party has a long history of raising taxes, while rarely delivering on any satisfactory return on that extra revenue? The Democrats.

I’m just sayin’.

Comments

[Dan the Myth®]

I respect the public school system. I like the premise that anyone can go to school and if they give a crap and study (or just use their natural aptitude), they can do well, get into a decent college and get ahead in life. That said, you've brought up some important points:

1. Tenure. What a load of crap. The reason people have such disdain for school teachers is because the ones who put in hours of effort and actually care about the students (ie my mom ca 1992-1995) get paid crap and have no job security, while the teachers who have 20 years of experience and have long since checked out have tenure and have salaries twice hers. Everyone complains about how teachers make too much money, but they're talking about the tenured vets.

2. Vouchers. I understand both sides of this issue. As usual, the conservative angle is rooted in the current reality, while the liberal angle is based on idealism. And I'll admit I'm an idealist. I feel that rather than giving parents the choice to pull out of the local public school system, we should concentrate on correcting the problems with public schools. Such as non-merit-based pay and tenure.

I'm a product of the public school system, and the subjects I did well in (chemistry, physics) and which shaped my current career were the ones where I had great teachers. They provoked interest in the subject matter and were easy to approach and discuss the subject with. The teachers who were just dialing it in scarred me for life in their chosen subjects. (I'm talking to YOU, Dr. "this is just a second career to me and I'll act like a college professor even though you're only 15" Leone. You made me fear calculus, you putz.)