Should we hire qualified teachers from other countries using H1B visas?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look into it, but I think teaching is one of those careers where it helps to have someone who understands the culture/community of the school/students. It's not just about subject matter, it's about prioritizing certain things. For example, whereas rote memorization is still a large part of education in other countries, it really is not in the US. Also you need more than subject knowledge to teach. You need to be able to make the material engaging and accessible. A lot of that requires being able to relate to the kids.

--teacher, child of immigrants

I don't know much about pedagogy, but this makes sense to me at least. I think it's similar to the argument about why Teach4America teachers often fail to make material difference and ultimately leave the profession after their service is up. Coming from a wealthy, mostly white suburb is about as different as being from downtown Chicago as coming from Eastern Europe would be...I imagine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also just because someone has strong knowledge of a subject area doesn't necessarily mean that they would be good at teaching it. Some college professors might be an example of this.

This might be true, but it's also true that nothing can compensate poor subject matter knowledge. It seems to me that US schools value pedagogy way more than real knowledge, particularly at the elementary level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look into it, but I think teaching is one of those careers where it helps to have someone who understands the culture/community of the school/students. It's not just about subject matter, it's about prioritizing certain things. For example, whereas rote memorization is still a large part of education in other countries, it really is not in the US. Also you need more than subject knowledge to teach. You need to be able to make the material engaging and accessible. A lot of that requires being able to relate to the kids.

--teacher, child of immigrants

Majority of the US teachers don't understand their subject matter well enough to teach conceptually, while most of them are quite confident and feel superior than their foreign counterpart. The truth is that without solid subject knowledge, there is noway to make the material "engaging and accessible" to students. It might appear that the students are engaged and having fun, but what's the point if they are not obtaining true knowledge. This is especially true in the STEM fields.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope. The problem is not the number of qualified applicants - there are always MANY qualified applicants per job opening - but the sclerotic hiring process.

No, it's not the hiring proces being a slog.. some states have such a bad problem with not enough teachers that they are giving teachers "emergency certificates". The issue is not enough qualified teachers.

http://hppr.org/post/facing-teacher-shortage-ok-issues-hundreds-emergency-certifications

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2016/02/facing_teacher_shortages_states_turn_to_emergency_permits.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look into it, but I think teaching is one of those careers where it helps to have someone who understands the culture/community of the school/students. It's not just about subject matter, it's about prioritizing certain things. For example, whereas rote memorization is still a large part of education in other countries, it really is not in the US. Also you need more than subject knowledge to teach. You need to be able to make the material engaging and accessible. A lot of that requires being able to relate to the kids.

--teacher, child of immigrants

There are plenty of US citizens who can teach.

My child had two computer science/tech teachers at a magnet high school who were immigrants who had very poor command of English and were very difficult for the students to understand. Neither seemed to have a strong understanding of US culture or knowledge of good teaching practices. One was gone after one year, the other lasted a little longer.

Bringing in teachers from other countries would not be useful or helpful.

[Anonymous]

I posted on another thread about what it's like for Filipino teachers to work in Baltimore City schools. Watch "The Learning" on Amazon Prime to show how overwhelmed these Filipino teachers were to deal with inner city students. These teachers are well respected back home and then are placed in pretty bad schools where it doesn't really matter how well they know their subject area. None of it matters if you don't have excellent classroom management skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I posted on another thread about what it's like for Filipino teachers to work in Baltimore City schools. Watch "The Learning" on Amazon Prime to show how overwhelmed these Filipino teachers were to deal with inner city students. These teachers are well respected back home and then are placed in pretty bad schools where it doesn't really matter how well they know their subject area. None of it matters if you don't have excellent classroom management skills.

plenty of American teachers can't deal with difficult classrooms. That's not a foreigner vs. non-foreigner issue.

[Anonymous]

NO.

I work with lots of H-1Bs. Very nice people, some very smart but the ability to read, speak, write, and understand English is never as good as a person raised in the US even if that person was the lowest performer in college. Your child is far better off with that person than the the H-1B as a teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look into it, but I think teaching is one of those careers where it helps to have someone who understands the culture/community of the school/students. It's not just about subject matter, it's about prioritizing certain things. For example, whereas rote memorization is still a large part of education in other countries, it really is not in the US. Also you need more than subject knowledge to teach. You need to be able to make the material engaging and accessible. A lot of that requires being able to relate to the kids.

--teacher, child of immigrants

Majority of the US teachers don't understand their subject matter well enough to teach conceptually, while most of them are quite confident and feel superior than their foreign counterpart. The truth is that without solid subject knowledge, there is noway to make the material "engaging and accessible" to students. It might appear that the students are engaged and having fun, but what's the point if they are not obtaining true knowledge. This is especially true in the STEM fields.

Yeah, obviously you need strong subject matter knowledge. But that's not all you need.

If teachers were paid better, subject matter experts with strong teaching ability would teach rather than choose other more lucrative careers, especially in stem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NO.

I work with lots of H-1Bs. Very nice people, some very smart but the ability to read, speak, write, and understand English is never as good as a person raised in the US even if that person was the lowest performer in college. Your child is far better off with that person than the the H-1B as a teacher.

Now you're just being a troll. They may not be as good in the language, but they are still teachers who are well versed in their area of expertise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NO.

I work with lots of H-1Bs. Very nice people, some very smart but the ability to read, speak, write, and understand English is never as good as a person raised in the US even if that person was the lowest performer in college. Your child is far better off with that person than the the H-1B as a teacher.

Now you're just being a troll. They may not be as good in the language, but they are still teachers who are well versed in their area of expertise.

DP here. Being well versed in a subject matter does NOT make a good teacher. Being able to communicate knowledge to students makes you a good teacher.

Agree with the H-1B issues the PP listed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NO.

I work with lots of H-1Bs. Very nice people, some very smart but the ability to read, speak, write, and understand English is never as good as a person raised in the US even if that person was the lowest performer in college. Your child is far better off with that person than the the H-1B as a teacher.

So the worst qualified native English speaker would be a far better teacher than the best qualified foreigner just because their English skills are better? That's a ridiculous statement, particularly in science and math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NO.

I work with lots of H-1Bs. Very nice people, some very smart but the ability to read, speak, write, and understand English is never as good as a person raised in the US even if that person was the lowest performer in college. Your child is far better off with that person than the the H-1B as a teacher.

So the worst qualified native English speaker would be a far better teacher than the best qualified foreigner just because their English skills are better? That's a ridiculous statement, particularly in science and math.

+ 1

The call centers are being operated in India with minimally educated workers. The teachers are going to be well educated. Most of them are tutoring online students from the US. Why?
Because it is easier to pay $15 an hour to a teacher in India over skype than $100 an hour to a Math teacher here. The world has changed my friend!

[Anonymous]

DCPS uses J1 visas to bring in foreign language teachers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NO.

I work with lots of H-1Bs. Very nice people, some very smart but the ability to read, speak, write, and understand English is never as good as a person raised in the US even if that person was the lowest performer in college. Your child is far better off with that person than the the H-1B as a teacher.

So the worst qualified native English speaker would be a far better teacher than the best qualified foreigner just because their English skills are better? That's a ridiculous statement, particularly in science and math.

+1. Plenty of countries outside the US have English as a native language or primary language of the school system. To say their ability to speak, read and understand English is never as good as someone in the US is so ignorant (perhaps PP wouldn't have made such a dumb statement if he had better teachers).