So at the last place we went to, we got a male tour guide. It was old and smelly (the place, not the tour guide), but actually it was looking pretty high on our list. The people seemed nice enough, and there were some "cool" factors to it (with the exception of the artwork on one classroom wall--a coloring page of a "DEAD LION". Seriously. The kids colored pictures of a murdered lion. It even had it's tongue hanging out of its mouth. I'm not making this up. As a matter of fact, I don't think I could make this up if I tried to.)
Anyways, back to the part where I almost lost it. So we notice they have this pre-k room that is set up with cute little desks, and Bob asks, "Do your teachers have any sort of certification?"
Our tour guide says, "No, the state doesn't require it, and our company doesn't either." Now, this is where the dummy should have stopped, but instead he must have seen some doubt in our faces because he obviously felt the need to justify his remark.
He leans in conspiratorially. "Honestly, you don't really need to be certified to teach little kids. It doesn't really make a difference in how much they learn."
Ummm. Are you kidding me? Then why the crap did we just elect a president whose entire education platform was based on improving early childhood education, including stricter, more rigorous requirements for teachers, particularly in EC? Why do we even have certification in EC? We should just get rid of it. Let any ol' person give these kids their foundation for reading and math and science and socialization. It doesn't really matter if they're taught to read and write and do math well in the beginning, we'll just catch them up in middle school since we are having so much success with that in the United States right now. Anyone can screen for learning disabilities in the younger years, that's why we catch them all so early. No need for a trained professional for that. We don't really need teachers to teach, and like I told my husband, we should just get rid of the engineering degree, too, because really, those missiles just build themselves; whether or not an engineer designed them doesn't really make a difference in how well they fly and blow stuff up. And honestly, what is up with all these M.D.'s diagnosing and writing prescriptions?! I mean c'mon, I've been a hypochondriac for years; I'm pretty sure I could tell you what's wrong with you and how to treat it by now--and I'd charge a lot less!
Now, don't get me wrong--I believe there are probably many non-certified pre-K teachers that are wonderful and marvelous and whom I'd love to teach my child. But is this really how the average person thinks about EC education? That it truly doesn't matter if a trained vs. a non-trained professional is in the classroom? No wonder the United States doesn't even make it in the top ten of education when compared to other developed countries. No wonder the high schooler down the street can't fill out a check because she doesn't know how to write the number "250" in word form. No wonder the person at the fast food joint can't tell you if it's a better deal to buy the meal or 3 items off the dollar menu. No wonder the executives at AIG can't understand a balance sheet. Did our economic crisis stem from bad lending, or really, did it start back in the '60s, '70s and '80s when some childcare manager convinced our parents that "You don't really need to be certified to teach little kids. It doesn't really make a difference in how much they learn."
I really don't think I have to tell you how that conversation ended, but I think it's going to take me quite a while to get over it. And, in the least, perhaps if he'd had a better teacher when he was young, he would have learned a valuable lesson: Know your audience before you open your mouth.
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