In Wisconsin, The Ability to Read May No Longer Be a Requirement for Teachers

stopthatgirl7@kbin.social to News@lemmy.world – 332 points – In Wisconsin, The Ability to Read May No Longer Be a Requirement for Teachers
esquire.com

What could go wrong?

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This isn't as ridiculous as the headline makes it out to be. You still need to be licensed, which means a college degree. You can't get through college without reading. They're trying to get more teachers by reducing restrictions, although what they should be doing is making being a teacher a higher paying, less grueling job.

My mother was a Special Education teacher for 40 years and was at the top of her pay scale at 89k. I work in tech and 5 years out of college I was making 4 grand less than her. 5 years later I'm now applying to remote jobs where they're offering $60-75/hour or upwards of $150k/year! I worked for Disney+ and was making $110k/year not including benefits and was literally doing nothing half the time, meanwhile she would literally have to bring work home with her multiple times a week. People I graduated high school with were working in her district and were making like $35-45k/year which is fucking ridiculous.

I guess there are two big questions.

  1. Is FORT a good test to require teachers to take? The test seems rather difficult if it is a problem for college educated adults. What skills are lost by allowing professionals who can't pass the test?

  2. How messed up is the current school funding situation? School-age children as a percentage of the population is dropping, so it isn't like we need more children as a percentage of the population. If school budgets kept up with inflation, we shouldn't need teachers to take a vow of poverty.

School budgets are paid out of city property taxes, which are mostly paid and voted on by old people who own homes with no mortgage and little chance of increasing their income. They also don't have young kids and are probably Republican.

They'd gouge their own eyes out before they'd vote to raise their own property taxes to pay for something that doesn't benefit them.

Ergo, schools are always underfunded.

Before voting for something that obviously benefits them. An educated populace benefits them, they just don't see it.

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The Wisconsin educational system right now:

Well, don't want to sound like a dick or nothin', but, ah... it says on your report card that you're fucked up. Uh, you talk like a fag, and your shit's all retarded.

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The bar for teachers is now so that it's below ground level

At this point they might as well just do the old tradition of having the older kids watch the younger kids.

Teens can be elementary teachers, right?

Someone please tell me this is hyperbole

As far as I can see is kinda hyperbole. Just did a brief search about "FORT test" and I've found several sites who let you try a similar test to train yourself: it's a little more difficult than "can you read? - answer: YES/NO". Actually I found those tests complex enough, even if english is not my mother language. This said, teachers of course need to be well trained for their job. Only, this FORT doesn't seem a walk in the park to me. Long story short: misleading title.

It's not hyperbole, it's patently false. The FORT test is a 4 hour professional exam for teaching literacy according to current science-based reading and common-core standards.

It sure is . Here have some electrolytes and watch some cartoons. All is good.

I ended up reading the article and coming to the conclusion that FORT may not be a great assessment but I also haven’t looked at the test firsthand so I really can’t say for sure. I’ll go back to watching Ow My Balls now

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