see, that's what i mean!

right. the other thing i wanted to write about yesterday was this nytimes article. it makes me very very sad! it's about a teacher, who has his PhD and great students, who is not considered a "highly qualified" teacher and will not go through the ridiculous hurdles younger teachers (like myself) must go through.

As virtually everyone in the audience knew, Mr. Huyck would be leaving Pacific Collegiate, a charter school, after commencement. Despite his doctorate in classics from Harvard, despite his 22 years teaching in high school and college, despite the classroom successes he had so demonstrably achieved with his Latin students in Santa Cruz, he was not considered “highly qualified” by California education officials under their interpretation of the federal No Child Left Behind law.

so might we say that NCLB is driving the best and brightest AWAY from the realm of public schools? really, it seems like they're putting experienced, talented teachers, who otherwise would be fought over by school administrators, through stupid bureaucracy in the name of "accountability"!!! to miss e, that spells M-E-D-I-O-C-R-I-T-Y!

in illinois i think they (might) have it a little easier; well in chicagoland anyway. teachers can join a "cohort" and i think it's like whoever is in the cohort has the college classes come to them.

of course i'm just a young'un on the outside lookin' in; to me it isn't one bit infantilizing having to take teacher-cert courses because in terms of my career, i AM an infant. of course i can't help but have an itty-bitty chip on my shoulder... i worked my ass off in college -my major (physics) was considered one of, if not the most challenging in my college (liberal arts and sciences); i roomed with an elementary ed student one year and she was ALWAYS, ALWAYS in bed, sleeping peacefully, at least two hours before i was! (ok, the time you go to bed isn't really an indication of how hard you work, but she would ask ME for help in math... that's right, math geared towards future elementary school teachers) though i'm sure there's something to be said about the mental health of someone who chooses a major because it's the MOST DIFFICULT she can imagine! (ok, ok. that was actually the reason i stayed in physics in 2001 - i was almost going to switch to spanish. i chose physics b/c i liked the class at the time and i wasn't planning on attending my alma mater anyway).

but there's got to be a kind of grandfather clause - i think those teachers who have experience, proven talent, and advanced degrees in their fields of teaching should get a pass.