| Contrary to popular notions, teacher | | | | years before we had public schools or |
| licensing in publicschools does not insure | | | | licensedteachers. School authorities' claim |
| teacher quality. A license also doesnot even | | | | that teachers have to belicensed for our |
| insure that a public-school teacher is an | | | | children to get a quality education, |
| expert inthe subject she teaches. In fact, in | | | | istherefore false. |
| our upside-downpublic-school system, | | | | |
| licensing often leads to ill-trained | | | | Today, in millions of companies across |
| andmediocre teachers instructing our | | | | America, bosses or theirmanagers teach new |
| children. | | | | employees job skills, from the simplest tothe |
| | | | most complex. Private schools and trade |
| The notion that only state-approved, licensed | | | | schools teachmillions of students valuable, |
| teachers canguarantee children a good | | | | practical skills. Thousands ofcollege |
| education is proven wrong by history. | | | | professors with masters or doctorate degrees |
| | | | in thesubject they teach, instruct hundreds |
| In ancient Athens, the birthplace of logic, | | | | of thousands of collegestudents in subjects |
| science, philosophy,and Western civilization, | | | | ranging from philosophy to |
| city authorities did not requireteachers to | | | | electricalengineering. Over a million |
| be licensed. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle | | | | home-schooling parents teach theirchildren |
| did nothave to get a teaching license from | | | | reading, writing, and math with learn-to-read |
| Athenian bureaucrats to openup their | | | | orlearn-math books, computer-learning |
| Academies. A teacher's success came only from | | | | software and other teachingmaterials. All |
| hiscompetence, reputation, and popularity. | | | | these teachers are not licensed yet they |
| Students and theirparents paid a teacher only | | | | oftengive children a far better education |
| if they thought he was worth themoney. | | | | than licensedpublic-school teachers. |
| Competition and an education free market | | | | |
| created greatteachers in ancient Greece. | | | | Teacher licensing laws are simply a |
| | | | bureaucratic invention ofour government-run |
| Parents in America gave their children a | | | | public schools, an invention that we can |
| superior education athome or in small grammar | | | | dowithout, thank you. |
| or religious schools for over twohundred | | | | |