Re: 2 million teachers in 2007!

[Lois Breur Krause <krause@CLEMSON.EDU>]

 For a long time we
> have
> been hearing that "schools of education" ....especially graduate schools
> of
> education, should be discontinued and replaced with conventional BA and
> BS curricula
> with the addition of a "methods" course or two to qualify a beginning
> teacher.
>
> In the recent past, a college student could take watered-down "education"
> courses and
> earn a grade of A with minimal work or a grade of B which was tantamont
> to failure.
> I had heard that this is no longer true, that schools of education were
> being discontinued or upgraded with much higher standards for both grades
> and certification.
> Am I correct???
>
> Herb Gottlieb from New York City
> (Where  in the "olden days" a grade of A was only given to 5% or less of
> the enrolled students.)

unfortunately, this is still true in most places.  i try to use my courses
to -i hate to use the term weed out-  force those who have the ability to
USE it, to understand that they are taking on the toughest and most
important job there is, that of teaching other peoples children!  i beat
them up with blooms' taxonomy, and make them work at the top level, and
impress on them the importance of making their students do the same.
anything less is cheating them.

i would love to see all teachers take a BA or BS, and additionally courses
in child development, cognitive psych, current literature in the field, and
methods. i once put together a program for certification to teach at the
university level, for people who had a terminal degree in their field. It
included 18 credits of the above, plus a research piece on teaching
methods.

i would NOT dismiss grad schools of education.  i took a masters and a PhD
in education years after my other work, to go into teaching as a second
later-life career.  what i got in those programs was orders of magnitude
different from the BA level courses. of course, at the grad level, it's
what you make of it. i would seriously consider getting rid of the
undergrad level ed degree, except as an adjunct to a BA or BS in subject
area.
> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

Dr. Lois Breur Krause
Department of Geological Sciences
442 Brackett Hall
Clemson University
Clemson SC  29634

teaching chemistry, physics, astronomy and geology to elementary education
majors.

How We Learn and Why We Don't: Student Survival Guide,
available from International Thompson Publishing, ISBN 0324-011970

http://home.earthlink.net/~breurkrause

krause@clemson.edu