Everyone agrees that we need better teachers and more of them. It is logical to assume that teacher certification requirements limit the number of teacher-applicants. It seems counterintuitive, however, that certification requirements diminish the overall quality of teachers. According to education policy expert Frederick Hess, they do. In his article “Tear Down These Walls: The Case for a Radical Overhaul of Teacher Certification,” Hess makes a compelling argument that teacher certification hurts the quality of the teacher pool by creating burdensome requirements that discourage otherwise excellent teachers for joining the profession. In essence, Hess argues for a deregulation of the teaching profession.
Hess’s article is significant in that it challenges many of our assumptions about teacher certification and handles the topic in a nuanced manner. He tackles the issue of teacher quality with a degree of scholarship that is generally lacking in the field of education. For some odd reason, education is plagued by anti-intellectualism, as highlighted by politicians who address education reform with platitudes and polemics rather than thoughtful, reasoned analysis.
“Tear down these walls” is a metaphor for eliminating the unjustifiable barriers to teaching. I also see it as a metaphor for debunking the common assumptions related to education policy and erecting a foundation of policies based on sound research and reasoned argument. This is, after all, the standard in every other respected discipline. Education policy should be no exception. Indeed the gravity of educational inequity demands we attend to it with serious scholarship and the utmost intellectual integrity.
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