So "Tolerantly,"
Where is the limit? Using your logic, a mature-looking 14-year-old, if he/she knows the subject matter, should be hired by a university, right?
You got it.
Do standards matter? According you, no.
No, I say they do. The standard is, "Can he teach it well?" Not, "Has he got certain letters after his name?"
Should lawyers have to pass the bar? Should dentists be board-certified? Would you want an 18-year-old flying your plane no matter how good her hand-eye coordination was?
We are talking precisely about ability. And I was an 18-year-old pilot, so, apparently, yes. (You might recall that we rely on them, or kids a few years older, in wartime.) Lawyers and dentists operate in private practice and are not necessarily overseen. Adjuncts are. Your comparison is not good.
Unfortunately, there are other issues. And there are reasons why colleges and universities should have minimum standards in place for its faculty. Teaching demands a certain maturity, and a willingness to be strict. For instance, to bust cheaters, and then to be able to explain the situation not only to the dean but to parents as well. This would not be an easy situation for someone who is teaching his peers, or even friends. And an even worse situation as the students rise in age relative to the teacher. Students want to respect a teacher, and that respect does not necessarily come just from technical knowledge. A 40-year-old who has lived a life in his/her field is much more likely to command respect than someone who just got a degree. I remember when pair of very bright, knowledgeable but young teachers team-taught and bumbled their way through my undergraduate course. It was a top-20 school, and because of that, even 20 years later, I still feel a little ripped-off.
More baloney. The question isn't "is he bright and knowledgeable"; it's "can he teach". If he can, then his age and sheepskins don't matter. As for the rest, I had no problem busting cheaters, failing people, engaging a 50-year-old racist student, and bleeding red ink all over manuscripts when I was 23. They paid me all the respect I demanded, which was that they respect the subject, do the work, and behave reasonably in class. Actually they paid me more, but I felt it was unnecessary and misplaced. I argued with deans and talked to parents.
As college costs rise, students have to right to demand something for their money
Yes. People who know the subject and can teach.
, and a college that puts very young teachers
in front of a class--no matter how great the new climbing wall is--are at risk for being seen as a place that has lowered its standards.
Baloney. I cannot seriously believe that you are telling me your university loses kids because you have fantastic teachers who are very young. If the problem's that the kids can't see past "young" to "fantastic", then you ain't helping. Though I'd wonder where you are, because the kids I see here are remarkably open and grateful to good teachers.
The other issue here is that this young teacher has been given the work over other, more qualified teachers. For all your post-modern and populist rhetoric, you would be steamed as well.
Wrong. If he was given the work over
better teachers, I would be steamed. Years of service, degrees, I don't care. When someone does better work than I do and gets my job, he earned it. It's happened.
To imply that those of us with doctorate should just get over ourselves; that our degrees and experience mean nothing indicates you probably never got yours. I learned a huge amount from my degree and believe it makes me a better teacher.
No, I'm directly saying that those of you who can't see a good teacher unless he's got a PhD attached should get over yourselves. You in particular, though. I'm tickled that you learned so much from your degree, but perhaps you might acknowledge that people manage to become very good teachers by other means as well. Primarily by being very sharp, natural teachers. I'll take one of those over a top-20-school PhD any day of the week, though plenty of them are top-20-school PhDs.
And your suggestion that I shut up and learn from the young teacher...well, he was my student. And got a B-.
Perhaps he's a better teacher than he was a student. You should go see. If his performance is bad, take notes, and turn him in. Though really you should send someone else, because you've got such a blazing bias against him, based on utter baloney.
