The NY City Board of Ed. has been running ads for science and math
teachers -- big ads-- for a couple of years. I have a Ph.D. in physics
and 30 years teaching experience. As I was unemployed I went through the
incredible hassle, a full day of filling out forms, getting papers
notarized, paying them money, signing that I wasn't a child molester,
etc. to obtain a temporary certification in physics and math. Then I
could teach for a year if I promised to take at least 6 ed credits
during the year. Now I have trained quite a few elementary and high
school teachers in modern teaching methodology for science and math, and
I am far more familiar with the serious work in this area than are
nearly all the people I have met in university education faculties.
But I said, well I'll take an assignment and find a couple of courses to
take somewhere if I want to continue. All the ads made it seem that they
were really serious about finding knowledgable teachers of science and
math. I assumed that once I was on the list, they would send me
immediately out to a school, or give me a list. They claimed to have
such a terrible shortage, and obviously they would know what schools
needed people. Right?
Wrong.
They said, "Well you start calling around the schools (there are maybe
700 in the city?), and if you find one who will say they want you then
we can see about it."
So I decided they were not yet serious about educating the students.
They were bureaucrats, why should they care?
There is such a huge amount of talent going to waste because the
bureaucracy is so immovable, and the teacher licensing so restrictive. I
am not saying that teacher credentialing should be abolished (although
private schools ignore it and seem to do well even though they pay less
than the public schools), but there has to be a better, less demeaning
and insulting way to evaluate people.
Jerry Epstein.
now at Polytechnic University (and glad of it).