It’s scary how easy it is to become a teacher.
Suddenly it all makes sense… my medically bipolar Physics teacher (who yelled at students)… my hateful and arrogant Calculus teacher (who emotionally abused students)… my perpetually high German teacher (who likely sold marijuana to students)…
As I have started working on my Teaching Certification, I have been astonished by how simple the process is; how easy it is to become certified to teach the next generation of young minds. All I have to do is: shadow another teacher for 30 hours, take 80 hours’ worth of online lessons, and pass the State exam for my subject matter of choice. I’ve only been at it for a month, and I’m already nearly halfway through.
The quizzes for the online lessons are a joke. For the lesson entitled, “The Importance of Lesson Planning,” one of the questions was something like:
(In case you aren’t sure… remember that the title of the quiz is “The Importance of Lesson Planning”!)
In the online lesson about sexual assault in schools, the questions were all like this one:
I don’t even read the lessons most of the time and still get a 100%. It’s no wonder our students are growing up believing that global warming is causing the polar ice caps to recede, pro-life organizations deceive pregnant women into giving birth (this from my 15-year-old cousin at Christmas), and that everyone should be entitled to a “free” college education in America.
The more I explore the possibility of teaching, the more I realize that our country is desperately in need of some good teachers.
Authentically Aurora
Authentically Aurora 
You surprise me- in England you need a degree in the subject of your choice plus a year’s Post Graduate Cert of Education study and exam portfolio (which is a full-time year as a student teacher) for Secondary (High) school, and for Primary (Elementary) you still need the same or alternatively a degree in Education. Even after that you are considered newly qualified for a year and are closely supervised and supported. Good luck with it though!
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Thanks for the comment and insight as to what teaching looks like in England. From what I hear, teachers are highly respected in Europe and Asia, but less so in America (and are compensated accordingly)!
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I know for a fact you will make an awesome teacher. I sure hope you do it and the company realizes how great you were and will have a hard time replacing you!
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Certification standards for teachers vary from state to state, and many states have fewer requirements for STEM teachers than for teachers of language arts or history (for example). That happens for two reasons: there’s a lot of English majors and history majors looking for jobs, while people with majors in STEM areas have more jobs available. Also, real-life experience in a STEM career is easier to demonstrate than real-life experience in a history-related career. In my experience, examinations covering harassment policies are ridiculously easy, largely because state and local governments require some demonstration that teachers and similar workers know the rules, but nobody ever looks at the actual evaluation procedure.
Anyhow, you are right, we are desperately in need of good teachers, and I know that you are going to be one of the best of them. J.
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Yay! I’m excited. 😀
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