Are Education Credentials Pointless?

In the early 2000s, earning an MA in Education led to a nearly 20,000/year raise for me. This experience underscored the value of educational credentials in terms of salary, but perhaps not in making you a smarter, well-rounded person or a more effective teacher. In his book Inside American Education, social-scientist Thomas Sowell points out that education majors have among the lowest SAT scores of any college majors.

Low Entry Standards

Education majors typically have lower SAT math scores than English and Drama majors, and lower verbal scores than Mechanical Engineering majors. Moreover, graduate students in education tend to have the lowest GRE scores among advancing students, and most MA in education programs do not require the GRE. These findings suggest that the demands of earning an education degree are remarkably low.

Low Standards and Poor Knowledge

I earned an undergraduate artsy-fartsy degree from UC Santa Cruz and a graduate degree in a scientific field from Mississippi State. After earning my BA, I took a step into teaching by taking the C-Best test, which assesses middle-school-level reading and math skills. I started teaching as a substitute teacher, taking education classes for a credential. One of my teacher's aides, who held a BA in Education, struggled to pass the C-Best despite multiple attempts. This indicates that earning an education degree does not guarantee even basic academic proficiency.

Once, a colleague with a BA and MA in education, who was a 6th-grade teacher, demonstrated a surprising lack of knowledge on World War II. He mistakenly believed that Americans had dropped the atomic bomb on Pearl Harbor and asked where a specific scene in a movie came from. This incident highlights the insubstantial knowledge base of some education degree holders, especially in areas like history.

Questioning the Value of Education Degrees

Many education degree holders, including those with a Doctorate in Education (EdD), exhibit remarkable ignorance about basic subjects like history, literature, science, and math. It is indeed possible to earn an EdD with a mediocre intellect and without a curiosity for the world. Notably, the education degree often fails to impart useful information about teaching. A great teacher can convey crucial knowledge in a week, while the rest of the training involves a good base of knowledge, a bit of common sense, and a lot of trial-and-error.

Teaching is an art and a science that evolves through experience. However, much of the knowledge that successful teachers need could be covered in a one-week seminar. What often ends up missing in the 1 to 4 year process of training teachers through education courses is this foundational material. My credential course consisted of 10 graduate courses but lacked any instruction on gradebooks, phonics, direct instruction, or times-tables.

Conclusion

While earning an education degree may be an easy path to increasing income for some individuals, it offers no significant value for society in general or for K-12 students specifically. The education system often lacks depth and rigor, and this gap in knowledge is reflected in the quality of education many students receive.