“For those who are teachers, becoming teachers, family members or teachers or are a fan of teachers, this speaks to many of the issue teachers bring up each day.  If you are a critic of educators I encourage you to also read this article. ~Thomas”

Those who teach, also can do

By Joan F. Kaywell, special to the Tampa Bay Times

Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach. Those who can’t teach, teach teachers.

Well, I have taught teachers for almost 25 years at the University of South Florida’s college of education. I’m tired of those cliches — and of the assault on the profession.

We all know the power of that one teacher in a student’s life, and I am giving my student-teachers — all 500 that I’ve taught over the years — the tools to become that teacher. Sadly, the current concern in the bureaucracy of education is not how to nurture that one teacher. Nope. The focus is on how you measure whether or not a teacher is effective and how you prove it.

We had a critical teacher shortage when Jeb Bush was governor. But instead of examining why, his answer was to let far too many unready people into the classroom. His way to ensure that anyone entering the field was “highly qualified” was to have each prospect pass a test. That’s analogous to passing the written portion of the driving test and then being called a “highly qualified” driver.

After becoming “highly qualified,” those entering the field are given a temporary teaching certificate and three years to obtain their professional license. A doctor goes through training to become a doctor before taking the state exam, but anyone who’s graduated from college can teach without teacher training simply by taking a test. You don’t even need a degree in English to do so. It doesn’t make sense.

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Joan F. Kaywell is a professor of English education in the college of education at the University of South Florida. She is the author of “Dear Author: Letters of Hope.”

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