ESTABLISHING COMPETENCE

Probably all of us have experienced meeting a "well-educated" person, laden with degrees, who somehow just doesn't seem to know what he/she is doing. And yes, many of those individuals can present glowing credentials, stellar recommendations and degrees from "prestigious" institutions. This brings us to the question:  Does the possession of a degree indicate competency in a given field? Sometimes yes, but clearly, sometimes no.

Sometimes, too, the completion of practicums, internships and such experiences as "practice teaching" fail to demonstrate the familiarity that we would expect. So how do we establish competency objectively? Should we rely on standardized testing--which also leads us to wonder if curriculum in a given field of study or profession should be standardized as well? Many grassroots educational reformers feel strongly that curriculum control should emanate from the local level (school board, local advisory committee, university department, etc.), but we then face the dilemma that varied curricula can lead to varied levels of competency.

And perhaps the basic question for our times might be:  Do we best help the underprivileged and underserved segments of our society by lowering standards, or by marshalling our resources so that the underprivileged gain the intellectual and critical thinking tools they need in order to demonstrate a uniform level of competency?

Many of us feel that education is currently in crisis in the U.S. and across the globe. For that reason, education will become a central topic on this blog in future posts, although not the sole topic. May we all live, learn and grow to the best of our abilities!