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Hillsborough Schools: Education Majors Not The Answer

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By JOE O'NEILL Tribune Correspondent

The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 3, 2008

The silver lining in the jobs-lost numbers is that the Hillsborough County School District can be pickier about teachers it hires for high-need subjects such as math, science, reading and exceptional education. There will be more candidates coming out of private-sector areas hit especially hard by a recessionary economy.

"We are in a position where we can be more selective," underscored Quincenia Bell, Hillsborough's teacher recruiter.

But then she added this disclaimer: "Some of the applicants are not education majors. Their challenge is to convince that principal that even though they didn't go to school to teach, that they can teach."

A couple of points.

First, not being an education major shouldn't be viewed as a handicap. To the contrary. Not being burdened with bunches of common-sense psychology and methodology courses - at the expense of actual, subject-area mastery - should be considered a net plus.

There's a reason colleges of education are not, in general, highly regarded within the university academy. They are better known for their diversity models than for their academic rigor. They are more hire ed than higher ed.

Second, what's far more relevant is what a person has learned during the course of their ongoing Real Life seminar - and how well that translates to a real classroom with real, contemporary challenges.

Here's the sort of criteria that any prospective teacher should be measured by:

•Do they know their stuff? Do they have serious expertise in their subject area?

•Do they genuinely enjoy working with young people? Can they reasonably accommodate to the popular culture? Mr. Chips need not apply.

•Do they have the right personality fit?

A. Are they comfortable being the responsible adult in charge of kids? Discipline is a byproduct. Deb Lafave need not re-apply.

B. Are they enthusiastic? Ben Stein roll-calling "Bueller, Bueller ..." need not be reprised.

C. Do they have a sense of humor - including the self-deprecating variety? And if so - so what that they didn't have Ed. Psych. 101?

Put Civics To The Test

If the FCAT remains a fact of Florida life, here's hoping that we at least add civics to it. And to the federal No Child Left Behind evaluation while we're at it. Apparently, that's the only way to guarantee that a subject gets taught.

And in the case of civics - which lacks the cachet and commercial relevance of subjects that directly correlate to success in the global marketplace - it needs teaching. And it's just not a matter of embarrassing results from that recent report from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. The ISI found (from a randomly-selected sampling of 2,500 citizens) that one in five elected officials thought the Electoral College "was established to supervise the first presidential debate" and one in three elected officials didn't know that "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" are the inalienable rights so often referred to in the, whatcha-macallit, Declaration of Independence.

It's hardly a novel concept that the vitality - and, ultimately, longevity - of a democracy depends on an informed electorate. And that, candidly, gets scarier by the year. How do you hold your elected representatives accountable if you don't do your due diligence? How do you best contribute to a free-market economy if your economic lodestars are limited to "greed is good" or "the state will provide"? How do you support the principles of "democracy" - especially as an extension of American foreign policy - if you're ignorant of the basics? How is that not an exercise in hypocrisy?

And civics, lest we forget, is not just a bunch of rote-remembered bullet points - and shouldn't be taught that way. Sure, it's about the branches of government, the separation of powers and the lessons of the Cold War. But it's about more than that. It's about rights and responsibilities. Thomas Jefferson's take on the value of public education still resonates today:

"The objects of primary education ... are to instruct the mass of citizens in these: their rights, interests, and duties as men and citizens ... to understand his duties to his neighbors and country, and to discharge with competence the functions confided to him by either."

"We the people" rings hollow if it's euphemistic shorthand for "We the uninformed people expecting the good life, sacrificing nothing and hoping for the best ..." Teaching more civics is no panacea for a lazy democracy, but it holds out the hope that the more each new generation knows about how all this happened - and what's precious about it - the better our future prospects. They've never been in greater peril.

Record Grad Rates

We now know that Florida's graduation rate climbed 3 percentage points in the last year. It now stands at a record 75.4 percent.

In a written statement, Gov. Charlie Crist was moved to declare: "I am so proud of our schools, teachers, and students for this tremendous achievement."

I don't mean to be a glass-is-a-quarter-empty guy, but aren't we also noting that one in four Florida students still doesn't graduate from high school? (But it's one in five in Hillsborough County.) And Florida does count diluted GED-diplomas in the overall number.

We seem, finally, to be heading in the right direction, but I think we should have held the applause a little longer.

Lynchpin

John Lynch retired. Mostly as a Buc (11 seasons) but also as a Denver Bronco (four seasons).

He'll not be forgotten - and not just because he's Hall of Fame material. Tough, humble, classy, friendly to everyone. Would that Lynch were the rule and Warren Sapp the exception.

Joe O'Neill is a South Tampa writer who can be contacted at moesez@aol.com or www .opinionstogoonline.com.

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