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Comment by collegeburner | Hacker News Reader

facts we had teachers teaching the same stuff 100 years ago without this BS degree requirement and a much simpler certificate program. and it's not like we're getting better outcomes per dollar so clearly it's not helping that much. nobody needs a bachelors to teach freaking high school english.

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An underrated thing about schooling 100 years ago was that it was one of the only professions a women could respectfully do.

So you ended up having genius women being just an schoolhouse teacher.

While I mostly agree with you, if you look at public vs private schools, the divide in education is not in STEM. It is in history and "English" (grammar, writing, speaking).

And while private schools are doubling down on those things, public schools are reducing the focus on grammar, spelling, writing, and speaking, and changing what it means to teach "history."

Are private schools able to attract talented History and English teachers? It could just be the circles I go in but I'm under the impression that the reasons that people go into teaching those subjects are generally better aligned with teaching the public i.e. if you're teaching rich kids with engaged parents then you're optimizing diminishing returns while a little literacy can go a really long way in an underserved community.

The sociological aspects of teaching are becoming more demanding over time, which draws teachers to private schools despite the generally lower pay.

Private schools often discount tuition for the children of their teachers, sometimes substantially. I knew more than a few teachers at my high school who taught until they got pregnant with their first child, quit until the youngest was in elementary, then went back to teaching - both to have something to do and to defray the cost of tuition.

And while the students and parents may not be perfect gems, they're a lot less likely to threaten actual physical harm.

honestly english class is mostly a waste of time. idk about everyone i know who is very good with the language picked it up from extensive reading starting at an early age, not from cramming in book reports. i completely agree with focusing more on those things just i think the general reading level of American kids going into high school is way too low. there is literally 0 reason why someone entering 6th grade shouldn't be able to read literally any english language text and comprehend it.

and yeah history in public schools sucks. 100 years ago it was taught with a bit more of the "great man" emphasis, now it's a lot about social forces, the experience of the average person at the time. social forces are an important part of history but i have looked at old curricula vs new ones and they are so much more interesting. regardless, history should be taught by lecture paired with reading other info from the time (primary sources, more detailed descriptions of things mentioned etc) not by the godforsaken mess of a subject it is now.

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