The great historian and educator Jaques Barzun said, “Teaching is not a lost art, but regard for it is a lost tradition.” These days, it is difficult to believe that teaching is not both a lost art and a lost tradition, and the state of Minnesota seems to being its best to see that the issue of exemplary teaching will also be a lost conversation (2023 Legislative Updates).
In 2023, the Minnesota Legislature removed requirements for certain teachers to hold a bachelor’s degree. Those who teach career and technical education, for example, need only an associate degree in the field, or five years of experience working in the field. World language teachers need only demonstrate proficiency in the language, and visual and performing arts teachers need five years of experience in the field. The changes are part of the state’s effort to attract more people to careers in teaching, but they do little to advance the art of teaching and liberal arts learning outcomes.
First, the belief that somebody who has years of experience in the field will, by definition, make an excellent instructor is magical thinking. Subject mastery and passion for teaching do not endow individuals with pedagogical mastery or a sound understanding of how to foster cognitive and character development. We have plenty of instructors who have competing ideas about the summative mission of education and what it means to be an outstanding teacher and some who teach because it is a way to supplement the family’s income and still have lots of time off. Many are never mentored by administrators who explicitly groom their faculty’s pedagogical commitments and skills.
Second, since there is no national or even state consensus on what constitutes exemplary teaching, and since unions routinely defend the employment of incompetent teachers, it is easy to for the uninformed to believe that if a school board or district hires someone to teach, then they must be a good teacher. In short, the definition of excellent teaching depends on what local school boards, administrators, and stage regulators say is excellent teaching. All too often, the standards used to assess the quality of instruction is the stuff of the Wild, Wild, West. They ricochet from one opinion to the next depending on who is in charge at a given time. They shift from one foundation to the next as the wind of political correctness blows one way in one administration and then another way with the next.
By definition, teachers who have not earned a liberal arts degree are excused from the having to understand the things that make teaching a noble art, such as how to synthesize subject content into meaningful lessons about the human condition and what it means to be a good citizen. Without pedagogical training, teacher lack the ability to leverage their subject to foster cognitive and epistemological growth, how to align lessons and exercises with specific learning out comes, how to integrate critical thinking into their curriculum, and how to foster leadership and love of learning. The removal of BA requirements ensures that all of those crucial things pedagogists, neurologists, and educational psychologists have learned about effective teaching and learning will not matter in the classroom. It is a loss. Research tells us that a liberal arts education improves at least four learning out comes: intercultural effectiveness, inclination to inquire and value life-long learning, well-being, and leadership (Seifert, et al., 2008)
The drama teacher who cannot speak to why the 1957 stage production of West Side Story was a radical social and political statement, or a shop teacher who cannot not speak to how professionals in the crafts industry play a role in creating abundant affordable housing are liabilities against the full potential of education. A teacher who sees that a student can recall the plot from a great play but is unable to cultivate students ability to articulate and appreciate what the play says about their own virtues and limitations, or says about resilience, forgiveness, compassion, and bigotry leaves students splashing around the shallow end of the intellectual pool with the belief that they are actually Scuba diving. The bachelor’s degree typically confirms that one has a substantial understanding of the liberal arts, which, ideally, prepares teachers to help students take responsibility for the liberties we possess. By reducing requirements to teach, the state reinforces the idea that that teaching is about committing declarative knowledge to memory, and not the cultivation of our minds and our sense of humanity and civility.
References
Minnesota professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board. “2023 Legislative Updates Regarding Exemptions from the Bachelor’s Degree Requirement for Licensure.” July 14, 2023. 2023 Legislative Updates regarding exemptions from the bachelor’s degree requirement for licensure.
Seifert, T. A., Goodman, K. M., Lindsay, N., Jorgensen, J. D., Wolniak, G. C., Pascarella, E. T., & Blaich, C. (2008). The Effects of Liberal Arts Experiences on Liberal Arts Outcomes. Research in Higher Education, 49(2), 107-125.
