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Teachers’
unions would like to stop being embarrassed by home-schooled kids who
continually outperform those taught by “credentialed” teachers in
national contests. According to a 2002 article by
the Mackinac Center for Public Policy: “Only 2 percent of U.S.
students are home schooled. Yet, in the [National Geographic] geography
bee, 22 percent of the national finalists and 40 percent of the final
10 students were home-schoolers. Such a showing is nothing short of
phenomenal.” Home-schooled kids dominate the Scripps-Howard National
Spelling Bee as well. In 2000, home-schooled kids took first, second,
and third place. Last year, home-schooled kids won both the National
Geography Bee and the National Spelling Bee.
Meanwhile, we learn that those “credentialed” teachers so prized by
California
courts and teachers’ unions compare very unfavorably to people
credentialed in other professions. To become “credentialed,” teachers
have to major in education. According
to economist Walter Williams:
“Students who have chosen education as their major have the lowest SAT
scores of any other major. Students who have graduated with an
education degree earn lower scores than any other major on graduate
school admissions tests such as the GRE, MCAT or LSAT. Schools of
education, either graduate or undergraduate, represent the academic
slums of most any university. As such, they are home to the least able
students and professors with the lowest academic respect." |
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