ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 15, 1996 TAG: 9604150007
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PETER S. WILLIS
EDUCATION, as Mike Marlowe observes in his letter to the editor (March 28, ``Raze entry barriers for teachers''), faces great change in the coming years. As a state and as a nation, addressing ongoing change will take great sacrifices on many levels.
As a working journalist and full-time student currently ``enduring'' a teacher-certification program and working on a master's degree at Virginia Tech, I agree that certification is a grueling and difficult process. However, sacrificing certification programs to reduce barriers for individuals who wish to join the ranks of an educational ``elite'' would only add a greater impetus to what Marlowe calls public education's ``slow slide toward extinction.''
Instructional means and methods taking root in primary and secondary schools have little in common to the materials and techniques available to public-school teachers less than a decade ago. The image of a schoolteacher lecturing attentive students in front of a slate chalkboard is an image from the past. Contemporary instruction involves greater interaction with students in a multimedia classroom environment. In some cases, a student's emotional, mental or physical needs place additional demands on educators.
For an individual to be fully prepared for a contemporary public-school environment and the educational needs of today's students, he or she must be trained in the latest instructional theory, understand the educational uses of technology, comprehend developmental and adolescent psychology, reflect a detailed and extensive knowledge of specific subject areas and develop classroom skills through a trial teaching experience under the supervision of professional educators.
Certification programs that require an individual to dedicate extensive time and energy to their completion also serve another purpose: Through a process of attrition, they eliminate individuals who may not have a true interest in the field of education.
This road to certification, as Marlowe notes, is arduous and demanding. And it should be. Untrained and inexperienced educators could have a devastating impact on public education.
The proposal to eliminate certification programs to improve public schools suffers from a key fallacy. Marlowe fails to realize that teacher-certification programs exist to train individuals as professional members of a highly skilled, highly demanding field.
He suggests opening education to ``intelligent and well-educated adults'' who may have enthusiasm, interests or skills that would benefit public schools. On one level, his suggestion would work: Education is a field that needs enthusiasm, interest and skill from its members.
But without proper training and refinement, the most enthusiastic accountant will face challenges in a high-school business classroom he or she cannot overcome. The accountant may be the best in his or her field, but there's no guarantee that his or her skill will make a positive impact in the classroom.
Marlowe should expand his argument beyond the walls of public schools. If he does, then he'll see that education isn't the only field to require its members to complete difficult certification programs. From health care to automotive technology, many professions expect or demand that prospective members undergo intensive and extensive training before they're considered capable of performing their duties.
As in education, certification requirements in other fields are also in place for crucial reasons. Would he consider having a broken arm set by an individual who has no medical training, but is fascinated by health care? Or would he entrust a precision-tuned automobile to someone who enjoys tinkering with a battered lawn mower?
Every day, educators deal with our world's most precious resource - our children. The children deserve the best educators our certification programs can give them, not individuals who have a passing interest in public education.
Peter S. Willis of Blacksburg is a master's degree candidate in education at Virginia Tech.
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