To the editor:

The Ohio Senate recently passed SB 168, a bill that allows people with a master’s degree in any subject who can pass a content area exam to become a teacher. Anyone who has gone to college can attest to the fact that a person with great intelligence is not necessarily adept at conveying that knowledge to others.

The bill also allows districts to develop their own systems for evaluating teachers. Perhaps the legislators worry that unlicensed people with no formal training in education would fail to perform well on the current state-required teacher evaluations.

The bill’s sponsor, Senator Michelle Reynolds, a Republican, says that the goal of the legislation is to increase the number of Ohio teachers, and that “it is imperative that we prioritize getting the best and brightest in the classroom to teach our kids.” We want the best and brightest teaching our kids, but we don’t care if they are actually educated in how to teach?

I appreciate the desire to address the teacher shortage, a very real and pressing problem. But the way to do it is not by letting untrained people teach. The way to do it is to pay educators something commensurate to what similarly degreed professionals are paid, to quit micromanaging our classrooms, to get rid of high stakes testing, to provide more mental health services and support for staff and students, and to get rid of the WEP/GPO. These are just a few of the ideas that actual Ohio educators have for making this profession we love more attractive (there are more, if only they would ask).

We already have the best and the brightest in our classrooms, both in front of the class and sitting in the desks. Let’s keep it that way by requiring those who want to teach to be educated in how to effectively do so.

(Quote is from Szilagy, Sarah. “Ohio Senate passes bill to address teacher shortage, lower K-12 regulations.” NBC4, 13 December 2023, https://www.nbc4i.com/news/politics/ohio-senate-passes-sweeping-bill-deregulating-aspects-of-k-12-education/. Accessed 19 December 2023)

Julie Holderbaum,

Minerva