Many American schools of education are not worthy of existing.
On June 29, the California Department of Education, in cooperation with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing and the State Board of Education, announced the first-ever release of statewide teacher assignment data. The report revealed that as of the 2020-21 school year, “83.1 percent of teacher assignments are clear, meaning the class or course is taught by a teacher who has a credential and is fully authorized to teach the course.” The remainder of the classroom positions are filled by teachers who have not completed their training, have an emergency permit, hold a credential, but are teaching outside their credentialed area, etc. There could be even fewer “clear” teachers in 2021-22, due to the ramifications of Covid. Interestingly, the report informs us that if an instructor holds only an emergency teaching permit, is teaching outside their credentialed area without state authorization – known as a mis-assignment—or possesses no credential, permit or authorization to teach in California. the assignment is considered “ineffective.”
The subtext to this story is that to be an effective teacher, one must jump through the proper state-orchestrated credentialing hoops. And of course, to get that credential, a prospective teacher must take classes at a school of education. But I maintain that being a camp counselor or watching Blackboard Jungle will endow you with greater teaching skills than the average ed school, which typically is nothing more than a politically correct fad factory that gloms onto the latest good-sounding tripe and forces it down the throats of its students.
My own experience at Cal State Los Angeles in the late 1980s was an eye-opener. Rigor was non-existent. I took eleven courses for credit, receiving ten As and one B, and never once felt intellectually challenged. The required course work included ten weeks each of classes in music and art, but science and social science were crammed into one class. A basic course in classroom management, something that would have obviously been a great benefit to future teachers, was non-existent.
Amen – I had to actually defend a Master’s thesis to graduate and when I began teaching locally, I was absolutely dumfounded by the complete lack of academic rigor offer by SU/UMES/Wor-Wic/etc. What was worse was seeing clearly unqualified people making 75K+ and knowing that their students really got nothing from them. It is shameful and a complete disgrace. I’m glad I’m retired now.