On the value of college

One of the things that always bugged me was the University pushing an advanced degree (nothing against people who desire an advanced degree). I was an education major. I wanted to teach. I assure you, people who have advanced degrees aren't necessarily better teachers, nor are they necessarily worse teachers. I just didn't think the extra education was worth it. I think for education and many other fields, universities should require practical experience to graduate, IE an extensive internship process, perhaps multiple semesters worth. Leave the advanced degrees for MDs and people who want to do research in a particular field, or who need advanced training in their field.

Secondarily, preparation for some career fields may need more than 4 years. That should be ok. We seem to be boxed into this 4 years and graduate thing without really preparing people for what lies ahead.

Just my thoughts.

 

As I said though, the argument is not implying a conspiracy nor even for a conscious thought, just a motivation.

 

Excellent post!

It does raise the question, though, has the nursing profession(just as an example) increased in difficulty so that a person needs four years of school to be qualified or is there some other reason why those additional two years of school are desirable in a job applicant? Are all of the jobs more difficult or has the educational process, for whatever reason, become slower?

 

Plenty of liberal arts grads go on to be CEOs. For instance UF's new Prez, Sasse was a liberal arts grad.

 

Did you go to UF? Theirs is a +1 for the Master's in Education and I was under the impression that most students went that route. Or perhaps do they all have to? For perspective, there are only four states that require a Master's to teach. One can start their career in those states with a Bachelor's and are given x amt of years to earn the grad degree. Like I mentioned in another thread, the master's can be worth as much as 10k/year for a teacher.

 

No clue, I know that UF has had a 4 year BSN program for a very long time, I just know that some of the community colleges shifted their programs to 4 years at some point in the last decade or two to also offer BSN rather than AA. I’d say doing that probably doesn’t improve the quality of nursing all that much as the quality of schools are still very much YMMV. In theory it should give them more time to develop and possibly do rotations, but I’m not that familiar other than knowing some programs seem less impressive than others based on what they are churning out.

 

I always thought it would be better for teachers to learn a subject, like math, history, a science, etc. I assume that counts in most places and then they need the certificate/license to teach. Not everyone with those degrees want to teach or have the personality type, but all should be roughly qualified with degree in hand.

I always considered the school of Ed to be more about teaching pre-k through 5th where it’s more about methods and childhood development, but after that it’s more ideal for teachers to focus on a subject for middle school and especially high school. Maybe my understanding is wrong, of course nothing says a person can’t get a liberal arts degree in a subject and then also a major in ed or get a masters in Ed. I’d assume some go that route if they know teaching is the route they want in a particular subject.

 

No I went to UNF. If it was a five year program I might have done it, but it was 5 semesters at UNF

 

You're on the right track. True that Eled will be an "in house" degree program through the College of Education. Secondary (MS/HS) teachers will typically learn their subject matter in the program specific to their discipline, then get pedagogy through the College of Ed. My discipline only called for a few C of Ed courses, because it's a K-12 license and highly content specific/skill-based.

I actually don't know where the Language Arts, math, and science education degrees are housed at UF. At some institutions those degrees will also be "in house," but some might exist in their discipline. Arts & Humanities will almost always be in their respective units, with some pedagogy & foundational classes through Education.

 

My son, who is a junior at USF, just told me he got offered $38 an hour, full time, to do a 10 week summer internship at a tech company in Tampa ... they also said it was basically his interview for a real job after he graduates making 6 figures.

It's funny because when he told me he was looking for an internship, I told him they won't pay him much and just look at it as some hands on learning ... I guess I was wrong.

 

I hear what you're saying, but I also think it has to be dependent on the level you wish to teach at. If you want to teach HS Chemistry, then sure maybe you shouldn't require an advanced degree and the practical experience can make up for it. However, if you're teaching an Electromagnetic Fields class at a major University, you should probably have an advanced degree for two reasons. First, because advanced degrees narrow the focus of study and second it's probably a good practice to have a higher degree-level than your students so they're more likely to take you seriously.

 

Yes if I was ambiguous in the post I was talking K-12 teaching