CB> MS>Such notes are more than an "embarassment"!
CB> MS>An English teacher with poor grammar is no more ready 
CB> MS>to teach your kid grammar than I am to teach you to fly a 
CB> MS>747.
CB> 
CB> But the point of these tests of teacher certification is that neither 
CB> should the math nor music teacher be a butcher of the English 
CB> language.
    True.  It's a reasonable expectation that _any_ K-12 teacher use good 
grammar.
CB> MS>Public schools will lose the middle class if the "image 
CB> MS>problem" you cite continues.  Already, at least two for-
CB> MS>profit private schools exist in Greensboro, and a variety 
CB> MS>of nonprofit private schools are expanding.
CB> 
CB> The question this gives rise to, of course, is how high are the 
CB> standards set by the private schools for the teachers they hire?  
CB> Here 
CB> in NY a 4-year degree is required for public school certification,
    You're talking _credentials_, not whether the teacher can effectively 
teach his subject.  
    Is either a 4-year degree or teacher certification a real predictor of 
whether an industrial-arts teacher will be a good teacher?  Is the coursework 
represented by that degree or certification really necessary to being a good 
HS industrial-arts or phys-ed teacher, or for that matter a good 
elementary-school math teacher?  Early this century, Wisconsin only required 
_one_ year of college for rural public school teachers and two for urban 
teachers...are you convinced today's Wisconsin teachers are any better (with 
the near-certain requirement of a four-year degree)?
    One of the reasons private schools can choose better teachers is 
precisely that _flexibility_: the ability to hire as a math teacher the 
retired college prof who lacks state certification or the retired military 
drill sergeant who wants to teach history but never finished college.
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