Flutterby™! : 100 year old teacher gets degree 2010-01-28 16:29:50.053229+00

100 year old teacher gets degree

2010-01-28 16:29:50.053229+00 by Dan Lyke 4 comments

Jeff brought to my attention the tale of a 100 year old teacher who finally got her college degree a day before dying. What particularly struck me about this is that we used to consider a 2 year degree fine for teaching elementary school.

I don't know if our standards for 2 year degrees have gone down, or what other variables are involved, but I'm pretty sure it's not that our elementary school standards, at least in the schools she taught at, are any lower today.

And in other news, A German family has been granted political asylum in Tennesee because they were persecuted for home-schooling their children.

Petronius, if I could get the kids I've been doing homework with effectively learning their letters, sums and division, they'd be getting more out of school than they are.

Yes, medicine used to be 6-month program, but then you spent a preceptorship working with an experienced physician. In the 19th century many schoolmarms were only a few years older than their students, and maybe had a high school diploma. However, they were concentrating on getting the students to learn their letters, some sums and division, and the Bible.

A big difference between now and then in 2-year degrees is pedagogy. Community colleges now focus on subjects that are believed to conveyed well in 2-years. Four year programs try to cover deeper topics. What we know about teaching is more involved now, takes more time to learn. Kind of like medicine - it used to be a 6- month program.