Those who can't teach, legislate
Blogging from the Senate Chamber:Sen. Chris Buttars wants to open the teaching profession to just about anyone who has expertise in some field. After all, he figures, if you're a retired business person and can pass a test on economics, you can stand in front of a class and shape young minds. How hard can it be?*
But other senators disagreed with his SB48, pointing out that there's more to teaching than simply knowing the subject — and what about teaching elementary school? Sen. Brent Goodfellow countered: "Everyone may know how to read, but it doesn't mean you can teach reading."
The debate ended with this exchange between Sen. Pat Jones and Buttars:
Jones: Do you know what classes required for a teaching degree?Not surprisingly, that made Buttars hot under the collar. He pointed out that many important jobs are done without the necessity of specialized training.
Buttars: No, I don't. I don't know what classes are required.
Jones: It's a very rigorous process. It's a very important profession that is prized by most of us. Teaching is not just a job. It takes a gifted person and alot of training.
How about special training to be a mayor? . . Or special training to be a senator?. . . We don't do that!In the end, his bill survived for more debate on another day. A visiting sixth-grade teacher in the gallery told me she would love to trade places for just one day with Buttars:
He wouldn't last five minutes in front of my class.On the other hand, Buttars inadvertently brought up an interesting concept: Why not require training to be a state senator? At least administer an IQ test or, for Buttars, a biology test.
11 Comments:
How many bad ideas do you have to have before people stop voting for you? Buttars is terrible. I understand that there's a teaching shortage, but there are already several ways to become a teacher without spending years in school doing it. There are classes through districts to become licensed, among other routes. Simply allowing anyone to teach assumes that knowledge of a subject is enough to pass that information on. Beyond that, that would be licensing people to teach who may have never had interaction with children. That's a special, unique group and without some formalized training and, along with that, experience, you're setting up these new teachers for failure. And when teachers fail, so do the students.
Buttars is an embarassment to the state. With that said, why not have the legislators take the ACT and have their scores made public?
You stay classy West/South Jordan!
I think that it is those who can't learn, legislate.
They work deacades to professionalize a field only to have someone like Buttars suggest anyone can walk in the door. Perhaps nursing can be next on his list. Maybe police officers and corrections officers don't need a police academy or formal training with Buttars, just toss them a badge and a gun.
Buttars has proved a legislator has no training, or a brain.
There have been colleges that would allow teachers, such as an engineer to teach what he does professionally. I think that is a great idea. I would rather have someone teaching that can do it, and has done it.
Maybe our esteemed Butters could teach a night class on racism.....he is the legislative expert after all. Can someone please wake him from his deep slumber, the world, and possibly even the great state of Utah, has long since passed him by.
Morons! What has professionalizing teaching done for students? For teachers? The students have not gained in their test scores and other measurements, while teachers still get paid jack squat while being required to take nearly as much training as doctors and lawyers. Ridiculous.
Buttars idea is not bad. Teaching requires minimal training, more instinct.
Want to straighten out the public schools? Get the unions and the Federal government out of the classrooms, give the classrooms back to the teachers, and restore corporal punishment.
Political correctness and moral relativism have wrecked public education in the United States. Half these brats who have so-called "ADD" simply need to be swatted three times on the heinie once per quarter just to remind them who's the boss.
I am an elementary school teacher in Utah. I don't complain about my pay because I knew what my salary would be when I entered my profession. Most of the complaining you hear is from the UEA. From a teacher's standpoint, joining the UEA protects our butts from frivolous lawsuits--and don't tell me there aren't parents just looking for excuses to sue.
I can't stand the UEA though. They make teachers look like whiny incompetent losers and promote NEA values that don't reflect our values in Utah at all.
The legislature seems pretty clueless about how to improve education in Utah. Buttars wants even less qualified people to teach. What will that solve?
Another idea: Merit pay. Here's a thought, "How about merit pay for politicians?"
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