Politically powerful entities like to insulate themselves against competition. A good case in point are “education schools” — those university fiefdoms that supposedly provide the training that is essential for an aspiring K-12 teacher. In most states, principals in government schools have no choice but to hire applicants with state certification, and you can’t get state certification without having gotten an education degree. (It’s the same with law schools and bar exams.)
Government monopolies don’t bear the costs of their mistakes, so they are prone to becoming captive of wacky theories. In this illuminating column by George Will, the writer discusses the “progressive” (or “student-centered”) theories that dominate in the ed schools and why they lead to poorly prepared teachers.
In a paper released several years ago by Pacific Research, an inner-city principal was quoted as saying that whenever possible, she tried to avoid hiring teachers who had ed school credentials because they were less likely to need to be retrained.
The solution is to abolish state certification and allow principals to hire whomever they think will do a good job — and also to fire those who don’t.
