Andrew Njaa's makes some good points. And this brings up the never-ending
problem that people who have jumped through all the hoops aren't necessarily
good, and people who have not jumped through the hoops aren't necessarily
bad. No matter how we construct or modify or place the hoops, this problem
remains. Yet creating more hoops or adjusting existing hoops is about the
only way we have to attack the problem of trying to make sure we're putting
good teachers in the classroom.
When I was defending an unpopular teacher a dean once told me, "If the
students think they're learning, they are... if they don't think they're
learning, they're not." I personally do not believe this. I think it might
represent the position of the Ohio superintendent. And Andrew is also
implying this could be true in this instance... if the teacher is popular it
might be because he is good.
But it could easily be that the physics is poor or downright wrong. I have
had many students tell me they loved their physics class and their physics
teacher, and I find they were taught some really wrong stuff. (Yes, I know,
it could have been taught right and the student got it wrong.) My
unqualified high school physics teacher kicked me out of class one day
because I argued with him about transformers. He said they converted AC to
DC. When he wouldn't budge I eventually told him he didn't know what he was
talking about. This was just one of many examples of absolutely wrong
physics that he tried to teach us. He was a coach. He was very popular
with most students. He wasn't popular because he was good, he was popular
because of his personality. His personality and way with people allowed him
to gloss over gross incompetence that would fell a person with less charm.
He probably went through his whole life this way.
Bottom line... although Andrew raises some good questions, it seems weird to
me that we try to establish curriculum and standards for teachers, then
someone comes along that hasn't adhered to the standards, and we want to
figure out a way to make that okay ("maybe he is actually good"). Maybe he
is good, maybe he isn't. Doesn't matter. He hasn't passed the standards.
Doing so would require quitting the job and going back to college. Can't be
done any other way... he needs to be a full time student for about 3
semesters. Probably isn't going to happen. Allowing him to continue is a
breach of the standards and a slap in the face of all the people who follow
the standards.
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D. Phone/voice-mail: 419-358-3270
Professor of Chemistry & Physics FAX: 419-358-3323
Chairman, Science Department E-Mail edmiston@bluffton.edu
Bluffton College
280 West College Avenue
Bluffton, OH 45817