In 1970, on the reasonable assumption that teachers need to know something before they can teach it, California legislators passed the Ryan Act, mandating that people training to become teachers in the Golden State must earn a bachelor's degree before taking classes in pedagogy and suchlike. In the decades since, however, California's education establishment has turned undermining the Ryan Act's effectiveness into an art form. The first effort involved the creation of "liberal studies" - an ostensible major that includes classes in English, math, science, history, social studies, physical education and the arts. This let would-be teachers avoid the burden of picking a true disciplinary major. In the late 1990s, when the teacher shortage was at its worst, critics of the Ryan Act worked to roll back its content requirements, arguing that content classes, even the nebulous liberal studies, "needlessly prolong[ed] teacher training" and that these requirements "should be dropped or shortened." The teacher shortage has largely abated, but the assault on the Ryan Act continues. The latest erosion is SB 81, recently signed by lame duck governor Gray Davis, that reduces the total number of credits necessary to graduate with CA state certification, thus supposedly accelerating the production of teachers. But what will get cut? We fantasize that ed school pedagogy classes will make way for rigorous, content-specific courses. Not.
"Can little Mary learn if teacher's in the dark?" by Jerry Griswold, Los Angeles Times, October 27, 2003,