Mr. Dahle Does What The MFT Sent Him To St. Paul To Do

In all of the world, there can be no less valuable measure of competence or ability to succeed at ones’ job than a “Teaching Certificate”.

Now, I’m not bagging on teachers.  My dad, my sister, and two of my grandparents are or were teachers.  I taught, myself, for a while.

But what does a “Teaching License” mean?

It means that a teacher has taken a number of prescribed classes in an “Education” program – the kind of thing my father, who was not only the world’s best teacher for almost 40 years, but also taught education courses to would-be teachers full and part-time for many years – derisively called “Theory of the Eraser 352”.  They’ve also spent some time practice-teaching in a classroom.  And that’s about it.

I thought about this a few years back, when a friend and former manager of mine decided to chuck it all, leave the IT business, take his degree in math, and become a high school math teacher.  Now, the guy was a natural teacher; in a just world (or if he’s wanted to teach at a private school), he would have been hired off the street.

But no.  He, with his degree in math from a rigorous program, had to sit through a couple of years of classes on arcane pedagogy methods – “Theory of the Eraser” – and basically repeat two years of college  (in the least rigorous, most hot-air-puffed department on his or any campus).  When we last spoke, he was about to start practice-teaching – and was already sounding a little burned out with the system.

Why could he not just take his degree, and his years of experience and passion for the subject, and start teaching?

For the same reason you can not start a barber shop or a law firm or a nail salon or an electrical repair company without a license; because the people who already have the licenses want to regulate the supply of practicioners, to keep the supply of the service down and the prices up.

A few weeks ago, the Legislature saw a bill that would have allowed for “alternative licensure” of teachers – basically allowing people with significant real-world experience and who wanted to try their hands at teaching to get a fast-track to licensure.

Kevin Dahle – who squiggled into office in a special election two years ago over Ray Cox in SD25 – is part of the DFL push to squash the idea:

This past Tuesday, the Education committee in the Minnesota Senate passed an alternative Teacher licensure bill. I voted against that bill.

At a time when discussions have focused on increased rigor, teacher quality, and closing the achievement gap, fast tracking teacher licensure doesn’t see make sense.

Maybe it doesn’t, maybe it does.  It would help if Senator Dahle would provide some actual evidence either way.

All we get, though, is non-sequitur:

Senate File 2757 would allow person with a BA who has passed reading, writing, and math exams and a 5 week preparation course to be in charge of a classroom.

How can an individual, who has not adequately demonstrated proven success in an actual classroom setting experience, do a better job in closing the achievement gap?

In and of itself?  They probably can’t.

Of course, that would be a problem – if teachers with alternative licenses walked into classrooms and started teaching kids and drawing paychecks sight-unseen.  Now, I’m no school board member, but I’m going to guess that there might be some sort of evaluation process before a district hires a new teacher.

But why is this even an issue?  After all, we’ve all seen the headlines; districts are laying off teachers!  Even Senator Dahle notes it (empasis added):

Hundreds of laid off teachers and recent college graduates from 4 year teacher preparation programs are already looking for work. There are sufficient high quality experienced teachers for most subjects.

“Most subjects”.

It’s true.  There’s a glut of out of work teachers in many areas.

But the state is critically short of teachers in science and math.  We are begging for English as a Second Language teachers.  Heck, they can’t find male teachers to work in elementary schools – between the hostile feminism that runs the education academy and the thanklessness of being a union teacher, the number is plummeting even as our urban social collapse presents a dire need for male role models in our schools, a time that can make or break boys at a critical juncture in their lives.

Alternative licensure is a way to get people who are motivated to teach, especially math and science – people like my former manager – into the classroom, fast.  Because that’s where they’re needed.

The current system allows for flexibility. There are certain organizations such as “Teach for America” that already have programs in place in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Brooklyn Center having been granted waivers by the Board of Teaching. That program could continue.

Which is great – and T4A has been a notably successful program in many ways.  But it focuses on putting new college grads into classrooms.  It can not supply people with years of real-world experience in their fields and a motivation to teach.  That’s what altertnative licensure is for.

And I’d suspect Senator Dahle knows that.

But why would Senator Dahle not mention the bill’s true purpose?  Why would he not note how ungermane it was to refer to the many laid-off teachers who don’t have science of math degrees?

Why do you suppose?

Elected to the Minnesota Senate in January 2008. I have taught Civics, Economics, Political Science, A.P. Government and Social Psychology for 26 years. Served as President of the Northfield Education Association (for 10 years), served on the Council of Local Presidents for Education Minnesota, member of the Northfield Arts Guild, Northfield Historical Society, member of the United Methodist Church, worked with Citizens for Quality Education, active in several campaigns at local, state, and national level.

No big surprise, is it?

6 thoughts on “Mr. Dahle Does What The MFT Sent Him To St. Paul To Do

  1. Swiftee…

    Maybe because he “taught Civics, Economics, Political Science, A.P. Government and Social Psychology for 26 years”

  2. Could be, Loren, could be.

    But more likely he became a child hater when he served as President of the Northfield Education Association (for 10 years), served on the Council of Local Presidents for Education Minnesota.

    Yeah, that’s probably it.

  3. Pingback: Shot in the Dark » Blog Archive » Mr. Dahle Does What The MFT Sent Him To St. Paul To Do « Interned In Northfield

  4. Kevin Dahle is not a bad person. He is a bad legislator whom works hard for the Teachers Unions and Education Minnesota. We have a huge disparity between metro and outstate schools. like an additional 1072.00 for Mpls students and 6.00 yes 6.00 for Northfield students and this is the trtend throughout Dahle’s district.
    http://freemadd.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/disparity-what-disparity/
    In fact other schools in Dahle’s districts lost money per student.
    His response? Well they(Mpls Schools) have different needs! Screw that Dahle!!
    So swiftee I agree he does not hate children he just apparently like some better then others!!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.