MASSACHUSETTS MATH TEACHERS NO LONGER REQUIRED TO KNOW MATH

May 24 2009

Malden, MA – For many, the craft of teaching is considered the most noble and important of professions. A legion of educators that equip generation after generation with the knowledge and skills they need the make the world a better place for themselves and for others. That respect though has rarely translated into high pay or
universal respect especially in elementary and secondary schools and for some, that gap in verbal respect and physical respect has seemed a damning indictment of the entire profession.

Others though see that gap as an opportunity as more and more people seek the short days and long summers of teacherdom. In Massachusetts the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is one of those entities seizing the opportunity presented to them by lowering the standards state-wide in order to increase the number of teachers in their stable. In an effort to make it easier, state officials have reduced or eliminated some of the more difficult requirements usually needed to earn a teaching licence. One of the first cuts to be made is one of the most difficult of subjects, math.

“The high failure rate puts a shining light on a deficiency in teacher-prep programs,” said Tom Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents. “In our view it is much more effective both from a performance standpoint and from a cost standpoint to simply lower the standards in order to put more teachers in schools. Enhanced learning programs would only delay a teacher’s entry into the workforce and saddle the school boards with unmanageable costs, something we simply can’t afford in this day and age.”

The Massachusetts board plans to make math an elective that will not count towards licence credits. They will also be refining subjects such as history and geography, removing elements deemed most difficult to remember and anything foreign.

“What educators are finding all across the country is that young and aspiring teachers have little desire to excel or even perform effectively and that that is eroding the base of available talent. Adult learning centres have been considered but the cold hard reality of the situation is that most of these young people don’t have
the desire or skills to learn and that is making it extraordinarily difficult to make things
work. It’s kind of like trying to drive up a muddy hill,” said Scrape TV Education analyst Ken Ridley. “Many of these people were taught ineffective study skills and have little to no ability to learn even if they wanted to. That of course is a result of poor teaching in their own early years but despite the irony the cold hard reality is they aren’t learning and unless they lower the standards there will simply be no teachers.”

Concepts like irony are also on the chopping block for the English program which will also see the reduction of many literary concepts and a simplification of basic forms of grammar such as verbs and nouns. It is not yet clear who will be creating the new programs or what level of education they have.

“There may of course be negative long term side effects as a result of this. It’s kind of like a copy of a copy; things just start to fade. If you started with a pure form from
the beginning you would likely have a better cross section of quality education but of course it is a lot more difficult. Students would have to work a lot harder alongside their teachers and really all anyone wants is summer vacation,” continued Ridley. That may be something that future generations have to suffer with but at least it will get more teachers in the system and keep the schools and their budgets fluid which in this economy is all anyone can ask really ask for.”

The board’s decision is similar to the plot of the film ‘Idiocracy’ which presents a future where only the poorly educated and unintelligent have bred, leaving society in ruins. It’s not clear if the board used the film as a basis for their decision.    

Mike Michaels, American Correspondent

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