Editorial
Teacher certification
should be overhauled
The quality of education is directly related to the quality
of instructors. That is why we support five new House bills
that would mandate tougher requirements for teacher
certification.
The bills were based on teacher certification recommen
dations submitted last September by a citizen’s advisory
committee. Its report was a damning indictment addressing
the inadequate teacher certification process currently used
by the state.
The bills address the problems in elementary and secon
dary education, one of which is an overabundance of under
qualified teachers. The bills would mandate “the elimina
tion of the undergraduate in education, an admissions cap
for state schools of education, a new system for teacher
licensing and creation of a Masters In Teaching degree to
replace the current education degree,” as reported in the
Feb. 24 issue of the Emerald.
Few disagree that these changes are needed. American
College Test scores from 1985 show would-be teachers rank
ing an average of 60 points lower compared to graduates
from other fields. This is unsettling news; the best and the
brightest should be teaching Oregon’s students, not the less
creative and least intelligent.
The bills would go a long way to fixing this dilemma.
Currently, the state’s Teacher Standards and Practices Com
mission only requires 36 undergraduate hours of study for
elementary and secondary teachers. Furthermore, prospec
tive instructors are not required to major in the areas where
they may be teaching.
If the bills are passed, the undergraduate degree would
be eliminated — which is good, because it is essentially
useless as a teaching degree.
For example, currently, a liberal arts major may have
more courses in a certain subject area than the teacher who is
qualified to instruct in that field. With passage of the five
bills, this discrepancy would be nullified, instead requiring
all prospective teachers to complete a nine-month Masters in
Technology program, which entails taking 60 hours of
graduate work.
Moreover, teachers would be more specially trained,
thus having a firmer command of the subject they would be
teaching. No longer would pupils be subjected to civics in
struction as taught by a wood shop teacher.
Critics of the bills cite that the financial burden of im
proving educational standards for teachers falls on aspiring
teachers by way of increased costs in their education. This
argument misses the point, however. What’s at issue is im
proving the quality of instructors. And this would be the
case if the bills are passed because only the more dedicated
would enter the teaching profession.
True, the bills would make it tougher to become a
teacher, and certainly fewer would enter this field. But the
supply of teachers currently outstrips demand. The bills
would help reconcile this phenomenon.
We also are concerned about teacher salaries. It is our
hope that as the quality of instructors would increase, so
would their salaries. This only would be fair, as society
should pay people what they’re worth. The overriding con
cern at the moment, however, remains a need for quality
teachers. The issue of teachers’ pay has been, and un
doubtedly always will be, a concern for those in the educa
tion field. But this should not impede efforts to improve the
quality of education in this state.
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Letters
Speaking up
I want to express my concern
for the lack ot assistive listening
devices in classrooms for the
hearing impaired student. I, be
ing a student with a hearing im
pairment, have found the past
four years of higher education
to be more than a struggle to
gather information given in
lectures.
Although notetakers are
available to assist hearing im
paired students, they rarely, if
at all. substitute for a pro
fessor’s lecture. While
notetakers are of tremendous
value, being able to hear the lec
ture would undoubtedly be a
much more efficient means of
gathering information.
What many people may fail to
realize is that most learning
takes place through verbal com
munication. When communica
tion is impeded by a hearing
deficit, much informaiton is
lost. It is not only the problem
of the hearing impaired in
dividual but also that of the
sender of the message. Com
munication is reciprocal; it
takes two to communicate.
Although progress has been
made to assist handicapped
students into the mainstream of
society, 1 feel that hearing im
paired individuals' needs are
often the last to be assisted.
For those professors who do
not want to appear mute to a
select group of individuals who
are eager to learn, speak out and
Oregon Daily
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be heard by expressing your
concern to the administration.
We desperately need assistive
listening devices in the
classrooms.
Rebecca De Lore
Psychology
Down under
As a visitor to your country
(from Australia), 1 do not wish
to appear presumptuous by
entering a local political debate.
However, 1 must express sur
prise that you question the
benefits of making the wearing
of seat belts compulsory , and
therefore widespread (ODE
Editorial. Feb. 19). It is relative
ly easy to establish their
benefits. Reduced injuries from
vehicle accidents, and thus
reduced public health cost do
result from such legislation, as
can be determined simply by
studying the results of the in
troduction of similar legislation
in comparable countries.
For example, compulsory seat
belt legislation was enacted in
South Australia (along with
compulsory safety helmets for
motor-bike riders) approximate
ly 10 years ago. I do not have
before me the relevant statistics
but 1 am sure thev would show a
significant reduction in the in
cidence of serious motor acci
dent injuries.
If such or similar inquiries
have been made by the Oregon
authorities, I assume from your
editorial that the results have
not been released.
Australia also prides itself on
its history of protection of in
dividual liberties; those liber
ties receive at least the same
degree of protection generally
as in America. Yet the
Australian experience is that
compulsory seat belt legislation
is not an unwarranted or obnox
ious interference with such
liberties, simply because the
Letters Policy
The Emerald will attempt to
print all letters containing fair
comment on topics of interest to
the University community.
Letters to the editor must be
limited to 250 words, typed,
signed and the identification of
the writer must be verified when
the letter is turned in. The
Emerald reserves the right to edit
any letter for length or style. Let
ters to the editor should be turn
ed into the Emerald office, Suite
300. EMU.
significant public resources sav
ings justify the slight cost of
choice involved.
Perhaps the answers to ques
tions such as your editorial at
tempts to deal with sometimes
lie beyond the shores of this
great country, maybe even
down under!
Brian Baillie
Eugene
Abused power
1 am writing in response to
the Oregon Daily Emerald’s
coverage of the ASUO Health
Insurance program, and
specifically to the Emerald's un
fair and unethical coverage of
ASUO programs and executive
staff.
Inherent in the Emerald’s
position as a student-funded
newspaper is the responsibility
of fair, ethical, and accurate
coverage of news. Thus far, in
its coverage of the ASUO Health
Insurance program, the Emerald
staff has been extremely unfair,
and less accurate in terms of
pertinent facts.
In its editorial of February 11,
the Emerald referred to the
ASUO Health Insurance pro
gram as being “plagued by
disorganization and
mismanagement, peaking in the
UO Students for Equity In
surance’s demand for resigna
tion.”
The Emerald staff chose not to
mention that the group calling
for resignations was only a five
member group, four of whom
having had virtually no
understanding of the ASUO
Health Insurance program. By
supporting this five-member
group, the Emerald attempted
to give legitimacy to a group
whose complaints were far less
serious than portrayed by
Emerald writers.
Our student newspaper is
also one whose ethics allow it to
alter the contents of a students’
letter to the editor (ODE, Feb.
11) so as to defame an ASUO ex
ecutive. This misuse of jour
nalistic power was un
provocated and extremely
unethical in form.
In the future, I hope for more
accurate, objective, and ethical
coverage of student government
programs and staff.
Tim Corrigan
ODE Board of Directors