Homeschooling: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/07/21/37masters.h28.html?tkn=ZWYF0wC0SJ5XnD3y3IGLbwO%2Fetr%2Ba8%2BEahif
Just read the article at the link above including the comments section. In a nutshell, the gurus are questioning whether it's really financially smart to pay teachers to get advanced degrees. Some studies indicate that it doesn't help with their teaching and the students they teach do no better than those with teachers that do not have advanced degrees.
One of the wrote this: commenters: So what does correlate to student achievement? A Bachelor's degree? Why have any degree at all?
Well isn't that interesting. Considering this has been the mantra of homeschoolers for years, I'm amused to see that someone in an education arena is pointing this out! A degree does NOT make a good teacher. A person passionate about the subject and his/her students makes a good teacher. It's pretty easy to think back to the teachers you had in public or private school and remember which ones kept you engaged and which ones put you to sleep. It's also easy to remember the ones that spent the entire class trying to keep the order amongst an unruly mass of teens and never taught much of anything.
If homeschoolers have anything we are most certainly passionate about our students. I love history but my kids don't show all that much interest in the topic (doesn't stop me from trying to trick them into it with historical fiction and such!). My daughter loves math - a subject that pretty much gave up on me in high school. It amazes me that I am able to encourage her and push her ahead in math when I can barely remember most of what she's doing now. I'm not much of a gambler but I'd bet 80% of the kids in her "grade" in public school couldn't do the math she's doing now. My son doesn't need someone with a degree to teach him. He needs someone to spend one on one time with him and to provide him with aural, visual and kinetic teaching while providing a distraction free environment.
I'd love to get an audience with a group of parents next month as they get ready to send their little ones off to kindergarten in September and ask them what they really think the teacher can accomplish that they couldn't do themselves. And working is not an excuse. I work full time too.
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1 comment:
Well, isn't that interesting. I agree, a degree does not make you good at what you do...be it teaching or many other professions out there. You've got to be passionate about what you're doing.
Of course, I've known some homeschool parents who aren't passionate about homeschooling (I was one of them) despite being passionate about their students! :)
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