Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: Teaching in America

All that Brian says about America is sad to say true. But there is a
shortage of qualified HS physics teachers in many places, and an employer
who can claim they are unable to find qualified US Citizens to do a job are
allowed to sponsor a prospective employee for a "green card" authorizing
residency and employment. (Same rules and same game in Canada, only they
aren't generally such male sex members about it here.)

It is common for people to come to the US as graduate students, get the
specific training to fill a particular slot, and then with the support of
their faculty find and enroll some employer in sponsoring them to continue
their work. As a result, over half of all science and technical grad
students in the States are foreign. (Correct me Listmates if my numbers are
wrong. A lot of my figures in this post are ballpark, off the top of my
head. I'm sure none of them are very far off however.) Wage standards for
research assistants have been driven down by this pressure and Americans
find the sacrifice involved increasingly hard to justify.

Other obstacles you will find: every state and province has a "teacher
certification" procedure. You either need a Masters Degree in education or
(in some jurisdictions) a provisional certification based on a commitment to
acquire that certification in a certain amount of time. This degree
involves a large amount of supervised teaching usually, so it can to some
extent be done on the job. It also involves (usually) a certain amount of
indoctrination in the old paradigm (teacher runs, controls and directs
class, manages all activities and judges the students, who go through the
prescribed tests,l jump through the prescribed hoops and learn something
along the way.) Schools are usually only allowed to hire "provisionals" it
they can't find a fully certified teacher. Massachusetts has one of the
most generous provisional certification programs, Nova Scotia has none at
all.

One sad result of this system is that few BA's in physics go into teaching,
and more and more physics classes are being taught by unqualified teachers
because qualified ones couldn't be found. Often the Biology teacher takes a
class in physics and then becomes the physics teacher. Sometimes (this may
be apocryphal) the Phys Ed (Gymnasium) teacher gets pressed into duty
because Phys Ed sounds like Physics.

Another result: physics classes are often terribly confusing and
unsatisfying, and have a reputation of being terribly hard. Only something
like 20% of all high school students ever take a physics class. Recent
studies have found that typically no significant benefit in terms of
readiness for college physics accrues from having taken high school physics.
But it does impress college admissions committees.

One bright spot: there is a Master of Science in Physical Science program
designed for secondary school and college teachers at Arizona State
University, with very low tuition. You will learn cutting edge teaching
technology and you will actually learn some physics too. They no doubt will
help place you afterwards. I don't know if this program meets anyone's
certification/indoctrination requirements, or if a joint program that would
do so could be designed for you. The fact that this is the only such
program rated as Exemplary by the US Department of Education however might
help an employer claim they can't find a US Citizen to do what you do. By
the time you finish there will no doubt be other programs so rated, but
there won't be many.

I hate to be so discouraging. Physics is a universal language and teaching
it effectively is a universal challenge, and the ability of physics teachers
to cross borders and share their gifts and learn new ways in other lands
should IMHO be protected by International Law. Unfortunately the US is
notorious for ignoring international law so even that might not work.

Chris

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Christopher A. Horton, Ph.D.
4158 RR#3 (Hwy. 204)
Amherst, NS B4H 3Y1
CANADA
ChrisAHorton2@hotmail.com
(902) 447-2109

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Many discoveries are reserved for ages still to come, when memory of us
will have been effaced. Our universe is a sorry little affair unless it has
in it something for every age to investigate ... Nature does not reveal her
mysteries once and for all."
- Seneca, "Natural Questions", first century, quoted by Carl Sagan in
"Cosmos", p.xi.

* * * * * * * * * * *


----- Original Message -----
From: Brian Whatcott <inet@INTELLISYS.NET>
To: <PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>
Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2002 9:10 AM
Subject: Re: Teaching in America


At 05:01 AM 2/7/02, you wrote:
Hello I'm a physics grad and am wandering how I go about moving to
America
(from sunny England) and teaching. Are there any professional bodies I
should get in touch with. Is a physics degree OK to start teaching?
Any
help or suggesting would be greatfully appreciated.
Yours Sincerely
Alex


There are three broad approaches to moving to America.
1) Swim the Rio Grande or its moral equivalents. (Some Mexican immigrants
perform agricultural labor, which is increasingly unattractive to the
native born)
2) Sign up for the US annual allotment of immigrants. ( But it may come as
a surprise that there is a lively underswell of tribal antipathy for the
folks who brought us the 'rocket's bright flare' as well as a fellow
feeling for those of us who attempted to pacify us by those of us who took
up arms against a half mad King fighting a more important European war.)
3) Take a job in a rare job category. The business route is the Royal Road
to US immigration. The country is sympathetic to the business interest.
Indeed, some governments are stacked with big business appointees, like
the
present one.

You should carefully consider the lack of health insurance for a sizeable
proportion of the population, and the native propensity for chiding the
poor, sick and starving for their inability to be be productively
working. The insane do walk the streets.
People do starve to death. People die of curable illnesses.

I see that people who can transfer small business skills - like
electricians and plumbers - often do amazingly well. That said - money or
unusual talent is very helpful to moving over. Americans know the cost of
everything!

I hope you found this helpful.




Brian Whatcott
Altus OK Eureka!