I apologize, Dr. Jill Biden, but this is just the tip of a huge useless iceberg. Schools that have MAs and perhaps PhDs on the faculty find it difficult to teach their students actually the most fundamental skills. Here is a breakdown of how teachers with MAs can’t teach kids to read at the most fundamental level. For 20 years, JoLynn Aldinger has been a kindergarten through second grade teacher. But she hasn’t felt ready to teach reading for the majority of that time.
She ultimately accepted the job. Aldinger said,” I used whatever basic reader they had.” ” I essentially really followed that. It was sensible literacy, as I then understand it. I continued stumbling down using the district-provided curriculum, trying to figure out where I was going.
Aldinger claimed that she believed she would acquire the mastery she felt was lacking when she went back to school to pursue her master’s degree in secondary reading and writing. It didn’t take place. She recalls taking a spelling course while pursuing her degree, which she claimed contained numerous” holes.”
She remarked,” I never discovered the sound types.” She had an MA in secondary reading and writing, but she lacked the fundamental skills of the old one-room schoolhouse or mothers from the beginning of time. This is the terrible joke here:” I didn’t get an understanding of all the phonics rules.” A similar incident occurred to Betty Jane Mitchell, a teacher at South Hancock Elementary in Hawesville, Kentucky. She just took one reading instruction course despite obtaining a teaching certificate and master’s degree in education.
Mitchell describes the literacy instruction she was expected to provide at the start of her ten-year career as leaning toward the balanced approach, with students encouraged to use context to decipher words and read for meaning.
Mitchell described it as a” hodgepodge of methods.” I gave it my all for three or four years before quitting teaching reading for a while because I lacked confidence. ” Schools and taxpayers have been wasting a lot of money on the idea that having more education makes teachers better.” It is abundantly clear that it does not. Academic degrees, if at all, very lightly overlap with teaching abilities. Even worse, the complete education industrial complex overcomplicates even the most basic concepts by creating jargons, specialized abstraction, and a variety of cultish theories based on what ought to be very straightforward. Many educators are able to instruct students on a human level; all they are aware of is theory, no actual instruction. Eliminating incentives for degrees is the first step in improving our education system. They are, at best, worthless, and at worst, they do more harm than good by turning education into a hamster wheel based on out-of-date theories( some of them communist ones ). The education business complex pushes its theories and, when they fall short, argues that testing should be eliminated because both students and teachers are under too much stress. A destructive indictment of a flawed system is when teachers with MAs are unable to teach students to read. We need fewer MAs if we want more kids to read.
Jill Biden, sorry Dr. Jill Biden, is only the tip of an iceberg. Here’s an example of how teachers with MAs are unable to teach children to read. JoLynn Aldinger taught kindergarten to 2nd grade for over 20 years. She has taught kindergarten through 2nd grade for 20 years, but she hasn’t always felt prepared to teach reading.
She took the job. Aldinger said, “I used the basal reader that they had.” “I basically followed that.” It was what I know now as balanced literacy. I tried to find my way using the district’s curriculum.
Aldinger said that she assumed she would develop the mastery of elementary reading and writing when she returned to college to earn her Master’s degree. It didn’t work out. She remembers learning a program for spelling while earning her degree. It had many “holes”, she said.
“I didn’t understand all the phonics rules,” she said. “I didn’t understand all the phonics laws.” The grim joke is that she has an MA in elementary writing and reading, but doesn’t have the basic skills of mothers in the one-room schools or the old time. She earned a teaching certification and a master’s in education but only took one reading course.
Mitchell describes the literacy teaching she was expected to do at the start of her decade-long tenure as leaning towards the balanced approach. Students were encouraged to use context to determine words and read for understanding.
Mitchell said, “It was a jumble of methods.” “I tried my best for three to four years and then stopped teaching for a few because I wasn’t confident.” Schools and taxpayers wasted a lot of money on the idea that more degrees made for better teachers. It is quite clear that it does not. Academic degrees are only loosely related to teaching skills. Worse, the education industrial complex complicates what should be simple. It uses jargons and specialized abstractions. Teachers are often unable to communicate with students on a personal level. They only know the theory and not the actual education. Fixing our educational system starts by getting rid of the incentives for degrees. At best, they are useless and at worst, they turn education into a hamster-wheel based on fashionable theories (many leftist ones), rather than results. When these theories fail, the education industrial complex claims that students and teachers were overstressed and that the solution is to eliminate testing. We need fewer MAs if we want to get more kids reading.
