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I would love to retire and become a public school teacher, but I will not go back to college for a bachelors degree in teaching. Make it easier to become a tea

I would love to retire and become a public school teacher, but I will not go back to college for a bachelors degree in teaching. Make it easier to become a teacher and you'd see more people consider it, IMO.

tombert 4y ago
What state do you live in? A lot of states will allow you to get a teaching certification as long as you have any relevant bachelors. https://www.teachaway.com/blog/can-you-become-teacher-without-teaching-degree https://www.teachaway.com/blog/can-you-become-teacher-withou...
- candiddevmike 4y ago
  I don't have any degrees, and pursuing a four year so I can take a pay cut is a non starter for me. I'd consider doing a two year technical degree, maybe.
  - tombert 4y ago
    Have you heard of WGU? You can knock out bachelors degrees much faster if you already know the material. After about a decade of software engineering, I was able to knock out a CS degree in about six months. Feel free to email me for more info. https://www.wgu.edu/ https://www.wgu.edu/
    - candiddevmike 4y ago
      That's a big if! My issue with college degrees is all the BS classes unrelated to the degree that you have to take. Looking at WGU's catalog for a secondary math education degree, I have to take classes on US history, biology, natural science, and composition. I think these are the classes that you allude to skipping, but it seems like WGU and other colleges are incentivized to make the skipping process quite difficult as skipped classes == lost revenue, no?
      - tombert 4y ago
        When I did the degree in CS, I was able to almost immediately test out of nearly every "fluff" class. There's no "minimum time" required or anything like that; if you know the material you can schedule the exam and test out of it. For example, I enrolled in the history class on Tuesday morning. I went through the per-assessment and got a 90%, so Tuesday afternoon, I took the exam, and got an 85%, which was high enough to pass. I knocked out a class in about a day. This of course won't apply to all classes, but I didn't think it was so bad; the "BS classes" were also my initial hesitation to going back to school, but I was able to whip through them pretty quick.
QuarterReptile 4y ago
There are states working on this. I think Virginia may be one of them. If I understand correctly, it's a pursuit undertaken almost solely by Republicans, presumably because teachers' unions are pretty powerful.
jdmtheNth 4y ago
I've always though it was absurd to have a kid get his or her teachers certificate and just start teaching. I'd rather see someone mature, with life experience teaching because they know things outside the narrowly-delineated curriculum. My son came home a couple of weeks ago and showed me a picture he took of his class. One or two were reading, most were on their phones, and I asked "what were you supposed to be doing?" He said "nothing" - the teacher didn't have anything for them to do. I was literally speechless. How could an adult have nothing to teach a bunch of kids?

tombert 4y ago

What state do you live in? A lot of states will allow you to get a teaching certification as long as you have any relevant bachelors. https://www.teachaway.com/blog/can-you-become-teacher-without-teaching-degree https://www.teachaway.com/blog/can-you-become-teacher-withou...

candiddevmike 4y ago
I don't have any degrees, and pursuing a four year so I can take a pay cut is a non starter for me. I'd consider doing a two year technical degree, maybe.
- tombert 4y ago
  Have you heard of WGU? You can knock out bachelors degrees much faster if you already know the material. After about a decade of software engineering, I was able to knock out a CS degree in about six months. Feel free to email me for more info. https://www.wgu.edu/ https://www.wgu.edu/
  - candiddevmike 4y ago
    That's a big if! My issue with college degrees is all the BS classes unrelated to the degree that you have to take. Looking at WGU's catalog for a secondary math education degree, I have to take classes on US history, biology, natural science, and composition. I think these are the classes that you allude to skipping, but it seems like WGU and other colleges are incentivized to make the skipping process quite difficult as skipped classes == lost revenue, no?
    - tombert 4y ago
      When I did the degree in CS, I was able to almost immediately test out of nearly every "fluff" class. There's no "minimum time" required or anything like that; if you know the material you can schedule the exam and test out of it. For example, I enrolled in the history class on Tuesday morning. I went through the per-assessment and got a 90%, so Tuesday afternoon, I took the exam, and got an 85%, which was high enough to pass. I knocked out a class in about a day. This of course won't apply to all classes, but I didn't think it was so bad; the "BS classes" were also my initial hesitation to going back to school, but I was able to whip through them pretty quick.

QuarterReptile 4y ago

There are states working on this. I think Virginia may be one of them. If I understand correctly, it's a pursuit undertaken almost solely by Republicans, presumably because teachers' unions are pretty powerful.

jdmtheNth 4y ago

I've always though it was absurd to have a kid get his or her teachers certificate and just start teaching. I'd rather see someone mature, with life experience teaching because they know things outside the narrowly-delineated curriculum. My son came home a couple of weeks ago and showed me a picture he took of his class. One or two were reading, most were on their phones, and I asked "what were you supposed to be doing?" He said "nothing" - the teacher didn't have anything for them to do. I was literally speechless. How could an adult have nothing to teach a bunch of kids?