Correspondent of the Day

Not Everyone Needs A Degree to Succeed
Editor, Times-Dispatch: I generally agree with the conclusions and recommendations of Heywood Fralin and Thomas Farrell in their Commentary column, "We Must Upgrade Virginia's Colleges and Universities," about state support of higher education. I specifically agree that the number of persons schooled in math, science, engineering, health care, and other technical disciplines should be a state priority.

I have three reservations, however, about their recommendations. First, I am leery of too much direct business involvement in basic research if businesses choose to fund such. We must all be concerned that such funding sometimes influences the outcome of the research, and that is unacceptable.

Second, not everyone is suited for matriculation to a bachelor's degree, and there are electricians, plumbers, and other technicians without bachelor's degrees who are making good money and providing much-needed services. I think Fralin and Farrell emphasize the attainment of a degree too much, though I agree about cutting the costs thereof. There are engineers and other advanced technically-trained people who cannot find jobs now, which certainly makes no sense to me. In addition to associates degrees, the community colleges also offer certificates (referenced in their article) that consist of valuable and useful technical training for many who don't care to get a degree.

Third, we must break the self-serving monopoly that the education schools now hold over public-school teacher licensing. All public-school teachers, regardless of their level of education or expertise, must complete various "education" courses and periodically take them in summer in order to qualify for and maintain their licenses. Everyone I know who is familiar with these courses deems them a joke, and it is absurd that someone with a masters degree in math cannot be automatically licensed to teach in the public schools unless and until he or she completes the requisite "education" courses.

H. Watkins Ellerson.
Hadensville.