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Comment by ramesh31 | Hacker News Reader

Do we really need people with masters degrees teaching 8 year olds how to multiply? Maybe elementary teaching should be seen as more vocational than professional. There's no reason someone of average intelligence with a few months training couldn't effectively teach kids.

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As a partner of an elementary educator in Canada, a master's degree no, but definitely an undergraduate with some amount of co-op.

Knowing how to teach well, to 25+ students, is not something you can pick-up over a handful of years. Many don't even after their degrees. Even if a school sets a lesson plan that's "perfect", you'd still need someone to adapt and tailor that plan to the classroom, or to students with special needs.

Lowering education standards is an absolutely surefire way of hamstringing the future of a state or country.

Here's a better question, why 25+ students?

You have 2 minutes per student in the average class. That hamstrings the future of a state or country more surely than having worse teachers.

Oh, 100%. Unfortunately, that's what the unions here agreed to and there seems to be very little motive from either side to change it.

I would be surprised if you advocated that for your own kids (Do you even have kids?). Teachers need to have masters degrees with certifications. I am not lowering my standards.

Yes, you do. 5-8 years olds are at a far more impressionable age than at any other time.

While I don't necessarily agree with AZ's direction, I also don't necessarily agree that a college education makes you less likely to screw up impressionable kids.

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