State law loosening requirements for teachers comes under fire

[demmiblue]

OKLAHOMA CITY — In response to Oklahoma’s continued teacher shortage, lawmakers passed a measure that no longer requires educators to have a college degree in order to teach permanently in public schools.

All a prospective educator needs now is a high school diploma and “distinguished qualifications” in their field to make them eligible to teach full time in K-12 classrooms. Those people don’t have to work toward a teaching certificate or take college classes, and legislators gave local districts latitude to determine what meets the “distinguished qualifications” threshold.

Supporters claim the law will make it easier for doctors, lawyers and other trained professionals to enter the teacher pipeline, but critics say those aren’t the people applying to teach. Public school watchdogs say they’re hearing of superintendents and school boards so desperate that they’re hiring people with high school diplomas.

Bryan Duke, interim dean at the University of Central Oklahoma’s college of education, said while the so-called adjunct teachers have previously been permitted, until this year lawmakers limited how long they could be in a classroom.

https://www.enidnews.com/news/state-law-loosening-requirements-for-teachers-comes-under-fire/article_86627798-7287-11ed-bad5-6b5918eeddaa.html

Holy shite!

Link to tweet

[Ocelot II]

1. The photograph is of state rep. Kyle Hilbert, who bears a striking resemblance

to Alfred E. Neuman, only not as bright.

[rsdsharp]

14. Ma and Pa was cousins, but Ahm alright.

[EarthFirst]

2. Only a matter of time before this turns into an activist proving ground...

…for evangelical conservatives to push their agendas.

The war on public education just took a very dangerous turn.

[GPV]

15. I'm sure they will act on it.

[Irish_Dem]

3. Hire high school graduates, pay them minimum wage, tell them what to teach every day.

The GOP can dismantle one of the finest education systems in the world.

They no longer have to pay for an American educational system and get total control of the information
taught to our children.

[judesedit]

4. They've been working toward this for a looong time

Check out "The Dumbing Down Of America" A real goverment program enacted in the 40's, I believe. As you can tell by some of the people running for Congress and their voters, it's worked. Scary.

[elleng]

5. Dumbing Down America:

https://www.google.com/search?

At a time when the U.S. education system consistently lags behind its international peers, Dumbing Down America shows exactly why America can't keep up by providing a critical look at the nation's schools through the eyes of the children whose minds are languishing in countless classrooms. ... Google Books

[judesedit]

9. It's called "The Deliberate Dumbing Down Of America" by Charlotte Thompson Iserbyte

Not sure I spelled her name right.

[elleng]

12. Dumbing Down America: The War on Our Nation's Brightest Young Minds

1st Edition, Kindle Edition
by James R. Delisle

https://www.amazon.com/Dumbing-Down-America-Nations-Brightest-ebook/dp/B09F98RQXB

[judesedit]

20. I'll have to check that one out, too. Thanks

[Irish_Dem]

8. Yes, low IQ, uneducated, immoral candidates are popular now.

So we can see the GOP plan to dumb down the US is successful.

Also to take down American values of academic excellence, honesty, integrity, etc.

[GPV]

16. "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." Coming to a school near you.

[Irish_Dem]

17. Fascists usually kill all the intellectuals and scientists.

(Except of course they keep the scientists who can make killing machines.)

Dictators will not tolerate anyone who might challenge their authority.
Who cannot be easily manipulated and controlled.

[GPV]

6. Oh my God, indeed! Teaching requires training. That means college courses plus

practical experience. And yes, I do say this because I am a trained teacher, not because I am feeling defensive but for the same reason I choose doctors with medical degrees. Training matters!

[ProfessorGAC]

19. See My Post #18

I'm a sub. I pretend to be nothing more. The state says, despite all my education, that I'm not able to be a certified teacher.
I agree with them.

[dutch777]

7. Like America needs more dumbing down...this should work for that just fine

Our poor kids! I see an uptick in private schooling for those that can afford it.

[patphil]

10. This can create a educational downward spiral.

High school graduates teach high school and impart their limited knowledge and wisdom to the next group of high school graduates who impart their even more limited knowledge and wisdom to the following group, and so on.
Not to mention a greater reliance on ingrained religious and societal beliefs to make up for the inability of the teaching staff to teach actual truth that they don't know or believe in.
This can even affect absolute subjects like math and science. Who can learn Calculus when the teacher is barely competent in Algebra? How can complex scientific principles be shown when the teacher didn't understand them when they were taught?
Ignorance becomes a standard.

Idiocracy here we come.

[gulliver]

11. Teaching and policing are both being made unattractive professions

When I was a kid, people respected teachers and the police. They had high status in the community. We've gone seriously astray, overreacting, canceling, reacting with a mixture of rage, confusion, and lazy apathy. We need to get back to common sense and core virtues. We need teachers, we need cops. Good ones, happy ones.

[dalton99a]

13. NEXT: Oklahoma allows middle school graduates to teach middle schools

and elementary school graduates to teach elementary schools

[ProfessorGAC]

18. Ummm...

...if they were trying to attract doctors & lawyers, why would they not have made a college education a continued requirement? There are no doctors or lawyers that haven't graduated college.
That is an obvious lie.
Not sure why it's so different in OK than here in Illinois. I have 5 degrees and I have subbed for 4 years now. But, I couldn't be a full-time teacher even if I wanted to be.
Is it a money thing and OK just doesn't pay people enough?

[GregariousGroundhog]

21. I suspect its less of a money thing and more of a getting treated like crap thing.

I did a quick Google search, and found the average teacher in Oklahoma gets paid about 12.2% more than the average of all professions, the national average being 11.7%. For comparison, Pennsylvania is the best, where teachers earn 28.5% more than the average of all professions and Arizona is the worst at paid 5.5% less than the average of all professions.

Their average class size seems to be about middle of the pack as well. Taking the high school level for example, Oklahoma has 23.8 students per teacher versus 29.3 in California (the worst state's ratio) and 14.7 in Vermont (the best state's ratio).

More money or smaller class sizes might help a little, but I suspect dealing with entitled parents and/or a crappy management at the principal or school board level is the bigger factor.

[ProfessorGAC]

23. A Reasonable Surmise

I know only about the schools here. I'd have to say Illinois is around average for teacher pay, but class sizes are likely above average.
The big schools I go to have 25-30 in each class, but I go to some little schools that have only 18 or 20. So, I'm only guessing based on the bigger schools.

[GregariousGroundhog]

22. It appears Oklahoma "forgot" to put guiderails on this

There are certain trades such as carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and welders where people can enter the field through either a trade school or through a union apprenticeship program. If a master carpenter wants to teach shop classes to high school students, I don't really have a problem with the fact that they didn't start their career off at a trade school.

Allowing alternate paths into teaching isn't necessarily a bad thing, but this legislation looks lazy at best and disingenuous at worst.