Most public school teachers in Texas are not certified, according to a recent news report. This concerns me, not only because I am certified to teach two subjects, but the public may not care much or consider this development a bit of a tragedy in the ongoing American presumption—for generations now—that public education is broken beyond repair.
Back in the 1950s, when my mother was in college studying to be an elementary teacher, graduates with the degree were deemed certified to teach any subject. They were ‘teachers,’ hired to teach whatever subject was necessary: coaching, history, math, music, science, civics, even more than one subject.
Then the progressive ’60s came along, and teacher certification became a whole new ball of wax. Teachers needed to major in their chosen subjects (except for elementary teachers who were still expected to teach all the basics). Secondary teachers needed to choose a major like history, P.E., music, science, language arts, foreign language, government, business, etc., etc. So when I was going to school in the ’70s, teachers knew their subjects well like reading, math, history, band, and whatever the schools offered and the district and state curriculum required.
Then the ’80s came along with society’s alarm over high school graduates who were functionally illiterate. At the time, I was in college studying to be a teacher, and in Texas the rules changed drastically every two years after each Legislative session. First, every current teacher and professor in the state was tested in reading and writing. Though the teachers’ passing rate was at 98%, a few teachers lost their jobs. A coach and a shop teacher come to mind. There was talk among us college kids that the whole thing was racist, a stunt to put out mainly Black teachers who did not attend white-only colleges back in the Jim Crow days.
Then those of us who still wanted to be teachers had to take pre-certification tests in reading, writing and math. Ugh. I was never good at math but had to pass the subject to be a teacher … of any subject. Later we had to take certification tests in not only our subject(s) but also education itself. Somehow in those days, I ended up taking a good 40 hours of just education coursework including student teaching. And even before student teaching, we had to take brief workshops in teaching reading. We were told the State of Texas considered every teacher a reading teacher—and if a student graduated illiterate, we all could be blamed and our certificates revoked. Ugh.
There’s an art to teaching
Those education courses ended up being like a minor for all-level students like me: those studying music, P.E. or art. There were a lot of classes, tucked into the required general undergraduate course of study and your major subject. And truly, most education courses ended up being fun, enlightening, and easy compared to college in general. Maybe that last part is why the public is OK with teachers not necessarily knowing ‘how to teach’ when starting out. The public expects a novice to learn on the job like a cashier, bank teller, mechanic, doctor, lawyer, legislator. The problem is: schools are Kid World not the Real Work World most adults know well.
Kid World is not like family life either. Believe it or not, kids in school generally act nothing like they do in front of their parents. Parenting and teaching are not the same thing either; the goals of parenting and teaching are not the same; neither are their respective outcomes.
But I credit all that education coursework for preparing me for what to expect when walking into a class of 20 students any grade K-12. And I was surprised to learn from day one everything I had been taught about student behavior and attitudes was true.
Back in the mid ’80s, along with all the teacher tests, were required education courses such as: History of American Education, Multicultural Education, Lesson Planning, Classroom Management, Educational Technology, Early Childhood Development and Educational Psychology (more than one course).
And the year I graduated, earning my Texas teacher certificate the same date, the Legislature reduced those courses to about 18 hours, kicking out Multicultural Education for one. That lone course was in many ways the most important to me as a WASP (you know, White Anglo Saxon Protestant). Didn’t even know I was one or how ‘we,’ white people, think, act and behave especially toward non-whites. Educators of future educators knew the projected demographics, so we’d be prepared. They weren’t wrong … about anything.
In the 1990s, the Texas Legislature, trying to fill so many open teaching slots across the state—which continues—allowed anyone with a college degree to be a teacher. Some school districts hire on the spot; others create 50 hours of online coursework to complete within the first year of teaching; some districts create an alternative certification program. But an AC teacher may never have to take college education courses of days gone by.
The philosophy of the Texas Legislature, allowing college graduates to apply for and receive teaching jobs even if not certified, was that secondary students would benefit from the wealth of knowledge shared by an adult who had spent a career in banking or the military, for example.
But now most teachers are sans ‘certification.’ Does that really benefit young people? Most teachers quit within five years of trying out the career, granted whether they’re certified or not. I’ve seen new teachers quit the first week, first month, first semester, and first year. Can’t blame them. They are educated and can find other opportunities for work, maybe earning more money. Besides, not everyone is cut out to be a teacher. I’d say most people.
What I’ve learned as a teacher is: schools and students first must have continuity and consistency. They need routine, day after day, year after year. Students need to know the people teaching them were willingly prepared to teach in our nation’s schools. They need to feel sincerity, excitement, passion, and dedication to the subject taught by their teachers. And young people can tell, and they often expect, adults who will breeze in and out of their lives, leaving them when the going gets tough. Other than parent, there’s not a tougher job than public school teacher. The educated adults who stick around—if at all possible—as school teachers make a positive life-altering impression on kids. All of us remember our favorite teachers … for a reason.