Useless Degrees, An Analysis

American Thinker ^ | 01/09/2024 | A. Welderson

[Tired of Taxes]

"I question the ‘lack of job market’ when it comes to education. There are lots of teacher jobs available."

Where I live, teachers are paid a nice salary with a benefits package and a pension plan. It's a good job, especially for people who want summers off. A good job for a mom, for example, who wants summers off with her children. I wouldn't want to be a teacher, but I agree that an education degree isn't useless.

[Tired of Taxes]

"It’s is good choice for moms - can contribute significant value to family bank account, while still taking care of her children who can go with her to work each day."

I agree, although I'm not a teacher myself. Everyone seems to be thinking of teachers in public schools, but private and parochial schools hire teachers, too.

[hanamizu]

You can teach a four year old ANY language, provided you know it.

---

Almost bizarrely we usually teach kids a foreign language right about the time they start losing the ability to learn languages, i.e. late junior high or high school. On top of that they insist you have to be a very good student to learn a foreign language. I used to tell my students, even a retarded Mexican kid will learn Spanish better than they likely will.

[cherry]

here's the thing....our shallow, petty, leftist driven country DEMANDS these meaningless degrees just to get a job...govt or academia...its all the same..

which is why you'll find english majors running wildlife depts or fire safety....

get the dang degree and you're in...

[Apple Pan Dowdy]

”Teachers should not have to have an ‘Ed’ degree. A retired specialist, in any field (math, science, engineering, physics, mechanics, woodcraft, etc, etc) should be able to pass on their skills…”

With all due respect, you are correct for High School teachers, to some degree. However what then would you suggest elementary school teachers major in? I taught 1st and second grade for 15 years before switching to a tech career when my children were through school. I don’t think I would have understood how to teach reading to a 5 or 6 year old or to teach math to them on a level that they could grasp, or know how to organize a classroom for sometimes 40 little ones so that it ran smoothly, if I had not had the classes we called “method classes” which were mostly taught in my junior and senior year. And of course the semester of practice-teaching in a nearby school while my advisor helped me past the many “hurdles” that came along.

[Magnum44]

I will concede that if one didn’t grow up familiar with such teaching methodology that it would be helpful to provide that training, but requiring someone to get a college degree in phonics or class room organization is still rediculous in my opinion. These skills and nurturing youngsters are what every young mother and/or father used to do in the pre-kindergarten age anyway. Babysitters learn such skills OJT at early teen age. For those that still don’t get it, a six week night class with some OJT assisting or being mentored by elementary teachers should be more than enough. This is equivalent to a trade, as opposed to a traditional ‘profession’, and please don’t take offense to that.

The same can be said of many trades, like auto mechanics, computer repair or programming, wood crafting, welding, plumbing, etc. these are all respected trades that pay well and do not require a college degree.

[Apple Pan Dowdy]

”This (teaching elem school) is equivalent to a trade, as opposed to a traditional ‘profession…”

Well then, perhaps schools should not REQUIRE a college degree for applicants then. But I think if they did that, you would see only “Babysitting” level performance by the teachers. I know that many, perhaps even most teachers today are just indoctrinating rather than teaching. My suggestion would be to raise the level of courses needed to get the degree. When getting my Elem. Ed degree in the 60’s, I took electives in Math, chemistry, physics, child psychology, Literature, history, biology, etc. even business law and Phys Ed as it related to children’s health. I dare say I was much more than a babysitter or little house on the prairie one-room schoolmarm! Plus I never had to put my own 3 kids in daycare even once. I tutored kids with Dyslexia and other reading disabilities and even an occasional high school student struggling with Algebra, while my kids were too young to go to school, then brought them with me when they started school.

[Grampa Dave]

“Two of mine had jobs, jobs, not an internship, an actual job with benefits. They had full time jobs with these companies after they were graduated.”

One GK received a real engineering degree and is now full time with the company that hired him as a student.

His sister worked at a good east coast hospital while going to nursing school. She went to full time nurse after she passed her tests.

[Reily]

My maternal grandfather had a career in education from one room schoolhouse teacher to school principal and was a “teaching product” of a “Normal School”. For those who have never heard of one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_school

It seems at least at the K-to-6\middle school level they produced graduates who do a better job then the product of the university college of education. They concentrated on the ‘basics” particularly at the K-to-6 level. They didn’t have educational training where they were convinced they were also a sociologist\psychiatrist.

To be fair I would have to say the biggest difference between then & now is there is no enforcement of discipline in the schools. Bad actions almost never have consequences. This almost entirely due to federal intervention not allowing it and fear of the race card.

[Magnum44]

The problem is multifaceted with one of those facets being the education track for teachers in particular, but also for all college education in general.

Colleges used to hold themselves to very high standards and one went to college to be a ‘professional’, i.e studied in engineering, sciences, medicine, mathematics, real history, languages, and even arts. In order to get a degree in Mathematics, one still had to have mandatory courses in history, language, etc because a ‘well rounded’ education ‘broadened’ one to be more successful in life. Colleges have since become commercial oriented businesses and through PC and DEI require courses that are of little or no value and more indoctrination, and they are motivated to do so for the financial gain (more required courses, more course fees). Then they tell us one must have the degree to get a job.

A second facet is business models. Many businesses/professions require a degree just to be considered for employment. So the degree becomes a hoop one must jump through to get the job, which they will actually learn OJT once hired. So here is a hypothetical: Suppose Johnny Lee Hooker, who was home schooled, never had a diploma, ran away from home as a teen, came to your school music department and wanted to teach music. One would be a fool to turn away such a chance to pass on the gifts of such a talented blues musician, but by todays standards, he could not be hired. Instead some untalented DEI/PC candidate with a degree in womens studies would get the job, and the students lose.

I dont imply at all that a ‘good’ college education (which you and I both benefited from) will not enhance ones abilities at work. Quite the opposite, so long as its a ‘good’ education. In order to teach anything, one must be a subject matter expert in what one is teaching, so the more training in that area, the better. But there is also some minimum standard, and todays college degree sets a very low bar at a very high cost in terms of the quality of the product graduate. Yet much talent goes untapped in the area of early education because a retired professional with a degree and deep understanding of applied math, for example, cant teach with out going back to get an ed degree. This retired professional likely mentored many young professionals in his/her field over the years.

Likewise, when hiring, candidates should know they are competing against each other and the ‘best’ candidate should get job, despite diversity goals. So it behooves oneself to build a good resume of both education and experience. But saying a degree is required constrains a hiring manager from finding the best candidate when qualified candidates cant get in the door because they dont have some piece of paper that used to imply good things about the candidate but may not guarantee such anymore.

[Magnum44]

One more note, though it may be redundant:

When getting my Elem. Ed degree in the 60’s, I took electives in Math, chemistry, physics, child psychology, Literature, history, biology, etc. even business law and Phys Ed as it related to children’s health.

You, and I, were educated in 'common sense'. So all the rest actually goes to good application.

Sadly common sense goes out the window with DEI and PC education.

[Apple Pan Dowdy]

”You, and I, were educated in 'common sense'. So all the rest actually goes to good application. Sadly common sense goes out the window with DEI and PC education.”

I agree. And I must add that there are still some very good teachers, even in public schools, though they are few and far between. Here in the south, in most states, we don’t have teacher’s unions. That and stronger conservative Christian communities outside of the big cities, are holding down a lot of the DEI/PC. In my county families can choose which school to send their kids to. Of course if it’s outside the bus route for that school they must provide their own transportation. That makes for competition among the schools and better results. It also allows the elementary schools to specialize…. For instance one is designated a “science/math/tech” school and has a lot of special equipment like a weather station, a working vegetable garden, etc., their 5th graders are even building robots and coding their own designs for the 3D printer. Another school is run more like an “academy” where students wear uniforms. One school includes a lot of outdoor classroom time. So sometimes a family’s school choice is made to better fit their kid’s personality. There are only 2 high schools. One is very agricultural oriented with green houses, fields, crops, farm animals, machine and wood shops….. the other more STEM oriented.