On another thread, I mentioned that there was a myth that all degrees are equally worthwhile, that the subject didn't matter because really you were "learning to learn". Now that's obviously complete nonsense, so where could it have come from? But that's obvious too: it comes from teachers, who themselves did some random artsy degree, then their teacher training, and having never had an industrial job, really believe it themselves.
I'd like there to be a minimum age for teaching, say 50 or 60, so that we don't get kids (in the sense of experience of the real world) teaching kids. That'd neatly solve the ageism problem too, it would be normal to work in industry for 30-40 years, then go into teaching until you feel like retiring.
I couldn't agree more. The quality difference between my artsy professors and my semi-retired from industry professors is so stark as to be comical. There is no substitute for understanding exactly why something is important to learn.
The number of people credentialed to be teachers in the United States is something close to double the number of people currently working as teachers. What's sad is that studies of teacher competency
tend to show that the best teachers get squeezed out of the occupation the most rapidly, with lousier teachers hanging on to enjoy the job security and other nonsalary benefits. And probably at present the lack of attraction of (public sector) teaching to some job applicants results from the known low quality of many workers in that sector.
Over the past few years I have become convinced that some endeavors, like philosophy or teaching, really only work with older people. There's just too much frame-of-reference stuff that is required to do these well.
agreed. education lags 25+ years behind the realities of being a productive member of society.