Contrary to popular notions, teacher licensing in public
schools does not insure teacher quality. A license also does
not even insure that a public-school teacher is an expert in
the subject she teaches. In fact, in our upside-down
public-school system, licensing often leads to ill-trained and
mediocre teachers instructing our children.
The notion that only state-approved, licensed teachers can
guarantee children a good education is proven wrong by history.
In ancient Athens, the birthplace of logic, science, philosophy,
and Western civilization, city authorities did not require
teachers to be licensed. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle did not
have to get a teaching license from Athenian bureaucrats to open
up their Academies. A teacher's success came only from his
competence, reputation, and popularity. Students and their
parents paid a teacher only if they thought he was worth the
money. Competition and an education free market created great
teachers in ancient Greece.
Parents in America gave their children a superior education at
home or in small grammar or religious schools for over two
hundred years before we had public schools or licensed
teachers. School authorities' claim that teachers have to be
licensed for our children to get a quality education, is
therefore false.
Today, in millions of companies across America, bosses or their
managers teach new employees job skills, from the simplest to
the most complex. Private schools and trade schools teach
millions of students valuable, practical skills. Thousands of
college professors with masters or doctorate degrees in the
subject they teach, instruct hundreds of thousands of college
students in subjects ranging from philosophy to electrical
engineering. Over a million home-schooling parents teach their
children reading, writing, and math with learn-to-read or
learn-math books, computer-learning software and other teaching
materials. All these teachers are not licensed yet they often
give children a far better education than licensed
public-school teachers.
Teacher licensing laws are simply a bureaucratic invention of
our government-run public schools, an invention that we can do
without, thank you.
Joel Turtel is the author of "Public Schools,
Public Menace: How Public Schools Lie To Parents and Betray Our
Children." Website: http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com, Email:
lbooksusa@aol.com, Phone: 718-447-7348.
Disclaimer: The information presented and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of ArticlePros.com and/or its partners.
