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→ 25 Aug 10 at 3 pm

OK, this is half right.

You SHOULD be competent in the subject you teach. What I don’t understand about this comic is that in America, you don’t need a degree in Education at all. You just take your BA or BS or whatever and take a content test to make sure you know something about your subject. This is true for every state if I recall correctly.

This comic, by none other than “I don’t know what the fuck I am talking about and hate young people and hippies” Tinsley, criticizes both current teachers (who have no degree in Education) and the idea that they SHOULD. So, wait, the teachers you think are incompetent now, the ones with the archaic and Victorian power dynamics in their classrooms, the ones who teach to the test, the ones with the high drop-out rates say that teachers should have a degree in Education to better understand their students and their learning styles. And this is wrong. It is wrong to ask educators to be well educated.

So all teachers are, what, stupid? No matter what? When was the golden age of teachers, Tinsely? When was the time when all students got As and Bs and no one dropped out and everyone learned well? Was it when all students were white, middle class, and lived in suburbs? ‘Cause that never really happened.

In Ontario (and most of Canada), you need a 3 or 4 year degree in any field AS WELL AS  a degree in Education (that’s what I was doing all last year).

SURE, everyone agrees that teachers should be competent in their subject matter. But just because someone got a PhD is Mathematics does not mean that they will be a good teacher of 4th graders. If he wanted to teach 4th grade, yes, he should get a degree in Education so that he knows how to teach 4th graders.

I hate to say it, but if you’re American and you had a good teacher, you were lucky - they learned tricks here and there that helped them educate. In Canada, we’re not perfect and a growing lower-income multicultural population taxes our educational system constantly, but we are mandated to study how students learn before we step into a classroom.

There is nothing wrong with a degree in Education. Nothing. There is nothing wrong for wanting those people you put in charge of your children to be well educated and versed in how your child thinks. Tinsley, suck an egg.

Edit: Kate was right, I’m sure, for some states. Illinois, however, requires the following for certification, 

Passage of the Illinois Basic Skills test and the applicable Illinois content area test.
Passage of the appropriate APT (Assessment of Professional Teaching) test.
An official transcript verifying either a major in the content area or 32 semester hours of
coursework in the content area in order to construct a major.
 -http://www.isbe.state.il.us/certification/requirements/section6.pdf

I have not yet seen any requirement for Education/Developmental classes, political/legal rights of students and teachers, or anything else.
OK, this is half right. You SHOULD be competent in the subject you teach. What I don’t understand about this comic is that in America, you don’t need a degree in Education at all. You just take your BA or BS or whatever and take a content test to make sure you know something about your subject. This is true for every state if I recall correctly. This comic, by none other than “I don’t know what the fuck I am talking about and hate young people and hippies” Tinsley, criticizes both current teachers (who have no degree in Education) and the idea that they SHOULD. So, wait, the teachers you think are incompetent now, the ones with the archaic and Victorian power dynamics in their classrooms, the ones who teach to the test, the ones with the high drop-out rates say that teachers should have a degree in Education to better understand their students and their learning styles. And this is wrong. It is wrong to ask educators to be well educated. So all teachers are, what, stupid? No matter what? When was the golden age of teachers, Tinsely? When was the time when all students got As and Bs and no one dropped out and everyone learned well? Was it when all students were white, middle class, and lived in suburbs? ‘Cause that never really happened. In Ontario (and most of Canada), you need a 3 or 4 year degree in any field AS WELL AS  a degree in Education (that’s what I was doing all last year). SURE, everyone agrees that teachers should be competent in their subject matter. But just because someone got a PhD is Mathematics does not mean that they will be a good teacher of 4th graders. If he wanted to teach 4th grade, yes, he should get a degree in Education so that he knows how to teach 4th graders. I hate to say it, but if you’re American and you had a good teacher, you were lucky - they learned tricks here and there that helped them educate. In Canada, we’re not perfect and a growing lower-income multicultural population taxes our educational system constantly, but we are mandated to study how students learn before we step into a classroom. There is nothing wrong with a degree in Education. Nothing. There is nothing wrong for wanting those people you put in charge of your children to be well educated and versed in how your child thinks. Tinsley, suck an egg. Edit: Kate was right, I’m sure, for some states. Illinois, however, requires the following for certification,  Passage of the Illinois Basic Skills test and the applicable Illinois content area test. Passage of the appropriate APT (Assessment of Professional Teaching) test. An official transcript verifying either a major in the content area or 32 semester hours of coursework in the content area in order to construct a major.  -http://www.isbe.state.il.us/certification/requirements/section6.pdf I have not yet seen any requirement for Education/Developmental classes, political/legal rights of students and teachers, or anything else.