Michael Walsh writes in the New York Post about how teaching colleges contribute to the dismal state of U.S. public education. Teaching students tend to be below average when it comes to entrance exams, but then get high marks once they enter their major. The low standards at teaching colleges carry over into their careers as unions fight to keep teachers from facing actual evaluations, instead preferring “certification programs,” where certificates are little more than a show of having done face time and paid your dues to some academic institution.
This has been a problem for a long-time in the United States. I bet just about everyone who passed through a public school has their own war stories: some great teachers, but some terrible ones, and attempts by parents to remove them always fizzle out.
Here’s the good news though: The clock is ticking on this system. Teachers’ unions have managed to fight school choice programs, but many have slipped through. And technology is revolutionizing the way that kids learn. With programs like Kahn Academy, there’s no reason that all students can’t have access to the very best teachers in the world.
Reports on the state of U.S. public education can be depressing, but the good news is that change is on the way.