In the public school system, teachers have to be licensed....in private schools, all they need is a bachelors degree. And, hell, I don't know what the criteria is for home schooling. Do you think licenses and degrees matter when it comes to teaching?

Not really because we've seen for decades that licenses don't matter since a lot of these teachers still don't have one damn clue what they're doing.

I think teaching is an art form, not a science. The best teachers can captivate and engage their students while contributing enlightenment to the students. So, I believe potential teachers should display an aptitude for entertaining and engaging an audience. If they don't have that essential talent, then they should be encouraged to enter another field.

The other failing are course materials. You ever notice how dry and boring history textbooks are? Yet I've found any number of authors that write very entertaining historical novels. I've learned more history that way than I ever did in school.

Screw licenses. They won't make good teachers and will just make it easier for government to control what gets taught.

If public school teachers were not made to be licensed, I shudder to think of what new teachers would be paid.

I admit, I am biased. My stepdaughter is about to graduate with and early ed. degree, hoping to teach first grade. She has worked so hard.

Interesting. Didn't know that. I thought all public & private teachers had to be licensed. And for homeschooling it varies by state. Most only require a HS diploma or equivalent.

Although we would like to think that because the teacher has a license that would make a good teacher. Unfortunately that is not the case. Some of the best teachers I have had didn't have a license. My mother was a kind. teacher in a private Lutheran church and she had no license or degree. I personally think she did an excellent job. All depends on if your heart is in the job.

Licenses should only be required when there is a real danger to the public otherwise. In the case of teachers, the entire college/university gets by without any such licensing and is much superior to our secondary/primary educational system. A review of a teacher's education, experience, etc., etc. is just as likely to pick out a bad seed than the lack of a license.

Licensing is often used as a way to artificially increase wages in a particular field by restricting the number of workers in the field. That is what is happening here, but you're also losing a ton of good teachers too.

Licensing helps ensure pay; it doesn't ensure good teaching.

I couldn't care less whether a teacher is licensed. I care whether they can teach. And I think teachers who can't teach should be removed from the system.

I also agree with everything Timetrvlr said:

Quote :

I think teaching is an art form, not a science. The best teachers can captivate and engage their students while contributing enlightenment to the students. So, I believe potential teachers should display an aptitude for entertaining and engaging an audience. If they don't have that essential talent, then they should be encouraged to enter another field.

The other failing are course materials. You ever notice how dry and boring history textbooks are? Yet I've found any number of authors that write very entertaining historical novels. I've learned more history that way than I ever did in school.

The problem is that many teachers get into teaching for the wrong reasons, and not because they love to teach or are even good at it. My dad was a teacher, and he used to joke that there were three reasons to become a teacher: June, July, and August.

CeCe wrote:

Interesting. Didn't know that. I thought all public & private teachers had to be licensed. And for homeschooling it varies by state. Most only require a HS diploma or equivalent.

I think what made me look into it was when I thought about those private religious schools, with teaching nuns. I can't help but think some of those women didn't rack up a lot of educational accolades themselves before they were assigned classrooms.