At Christmastime I found myself applying for teaching jobs at public schools. These schools required my college transcripts in order to consider my fitness for leading one of their classrooms.
This strikes me as ludicrous. After 15 years of youth ministry experience and now 15 years of classroom experience - the last 7 of which took place in the poorest nation in this hemisphere, my college GPA strikes me as possibly the least relevant indicator imaginable of my competency to lead an 8th grade classroom!
I have taken groups of students across the border to Mexico, into the inner city, and onto Indian reservations. (And my employers, as well as the kids' parents, trusted me enough to allow those trips to happen.) For seven years I bought my drinking water in 5 gallon jugs, guarded my family's food from rats, and weathered tropical diseases, all for the privilege of guiding students who were learning in a second language, many without benefit of dependable electricity or indoor plumbing, let alone internet connections.
Don't misunderstand; I have no reason to be embarrassed by my college GPA - it just seems like ancient history at this point. Since I was the sole English teacher my own kids had for seven years, wouldn't their recent scores on the SAT and ACT be a much better indicator of my competency as a teacher than my grade from Wabash College's "Cultures and Traditions" class back in 1987?
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