Dear lord....I took that test for multiple subjects in my younger days, including 3 areas I hadn't studied. Passed them all. It wasn't a hard test.
this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2025
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A Boring Dystopia
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They made the physics and chemistry tests even easier in the past couple years.
When I took the chemistry test - I hadn’t even really studied chemistry. Just two semesters in undergrad, never took organic. Didn’t know what hydrogen bonding was. I just marathoned the Crash Course YouTube series - I hadn’t ever wanted to teach chemistry, but the school decided that they were going to make me teach it and emergency certify me for it. I figured that would mess with my student loan forgiveness incentives, so took the test to be legit.
Sucks when you study Genesis and Corinthians all night and then the test focuses on Deuteronomy.
Department head/biology teacher at one of the schools I worked at was a creationist Bible college graduate.
He would compliment students for choosing to not wear masks in 2021.
A senior software dev I worked under was a creationist but never used that word, he always said he was "not an evolutionist."
My husband taught middle school math for one year. He didn’t have a teaching degree but had enough college credits in the subject to be emergency certified. While he was teaching another teacher asked for his help in passing their test. He was a little taken aback that the teachers of the subjects couldn’t pass the tests in the subjects they were teaching.
When I took my tests as part of my education undergraduate I had zero issues passing and was a little concerned about my classmates that did.
A decade in public education has not lifted my opinion of the general intelligence of some educators. (Many are genuinely fantastic, but that’s not always the case).
I am a relatively new teacher in Oklahoma. In my experience, the teachers I've worked with are a fairly mixed bag. There are absolutely amazing teachers working in Oklahoma that are knowledgeable and passionate about their content areas. I have also noticed a fair amount of teachers that are wildly under qualified or seem to only be in a classroom for the opportunity to take advantage of the system (frequently missing work, not actually teaching their students content, etc.) Oftentimes, though schools don't have many options because they simply need bodies to supervise the students. It is very heartbreaking.
"My first year teaching I was pulled aside and told by my principal, “you actually have a degree in this, you’ll have to step in to help your team” - because the other science teachers were a Physical Education teacher and the schools secretary."
I can relate to this. I'll be entering my 4th full-year teaching. In my short time working in education, I have become the most senior and qualified teacher for my subject and grade level. I do the bulk of the curriculum planning for my subject.
The politics injected into public education via State Superintendent Ryan Walters is absolutely disgusting.
So crazy we get an actual person on the ground who can give some context, thanks for jumping in :)
Oftentimes, though schools don't have many options because they simply need bodies to supervise the students.
And sadly, this is why schools are being defunded and requirements for teachers are simply "a warm body, but don't be woke".
Red states especially only want baby sitters because they want "education" to occur at church. With the DoE almost completely gutted, this problem is going to get worse and we'll pay the price in about 10 years.
I will qualify that I struggled with the mild/moderate test (still passed but had to study) because it was quite literally incorrect about ASD. But Oklahoma is mostly about torturing autistic kids anyway.
Ah, America. My condolences.
This is just most education systems in America. You're autistic or have other learning disabilities? Fuck you.
Unless you're in a wealthy school district without easy access to a specialized school for "those people", your options are limited if you're in public school.
And I love teaching autistic kids. Please put me in a group of autistic children. I would absolutely fucking love to teach science to a group of autistic children.
But I am transgender, so I can’t. I don’t count as a human being where I live. Nothing would make me happier than spending all day teaching chemistry and physics but I can’t.
those kids deserve a great teacher. sorry you live in such a chud-governed state.
Based. Valid af. I hope OK codification realigns with humanity needs ASAP. The law can be relettered. I really hope we fight through to get your vocational calling reactuated, because we do need you teaching sci all day.
Love and solidarity from the rustbelt. It's a very active game of legal tag around here too.
Maybe you could run a science program at your local library? They tend to be more welcoming.
As an aside, you implied in the OP that you were(are?) a drag queen on the weekends. Do you mind if I ask - I've never been quite sure about the self identity of drag queens.
Is a person a drag queen only when they perform in drag? That is, are you still a queen when you are in regular clothes at the grocery store? Also, is the drag queen the personality of the character you play, or the person doing the performing?
You can think of it like performers. An actress is still an actress outside of her performances, but she won't be the character she portrays. On the other hand there are music artists that take their character outside of a performance, in interviews for example. Lady Gaga and Poppy are people who come to mind in that regard
Thank you, that's a helpful analogy!
I’m not the drag queen - I was referring to a different individual - a case that should have been picked up by the media but wasn’t.
I am trans.
I think the answer to your question is that a drag queen is really their personality when they are in drag.
I have a similar type of job to running a science program at a library, but it is part time and I do not have health insurance.
Oh, sorry friend! I misinterpreted you and I apologize.
Confusingly, your answer is a little different than the other one I got! I'll find a drag performer in real life and ask them.
The teacher profession is all but dead in America. A lot of people that would be bad for students get weeded out through years of education and training. Most school districts are luck if they have more than 50% of their teachers educated/trained. The rest are individuals who could pass a background check. Poor areas, are under 30%. Just because someone can pass a background check doesn't mean they should be around minors. But schools have no other option.
It depends on the state. Oklahoma is ranked 49 of 50 for its k-12 public education system, and we are seeing evidence of this here.
I am a physics teacher in a New Jersey high school (and not even a high ranked school) and I would say that a majority of the teachers are true professionals with masters degrees in education. New Jersey is ranked 2 of 50 though (just behind Massachusetts). We also see teachers salaries around and over $100,000 in New Jersey so it entices more people to become teachers and treat the job very seriously.
My student loans are about to come due.
It’s all but illegal for me to teach here. And I can’t get out. I’m so sick of being alive.
Oh I stopped paying those years ago and I realized the older generations trapped us. They literally tricked us into believing ideals and walking a path they designed to financially and spiritually cripple us so their end of life will be as comfortable as possible. Don't give them what they want!
I know a guy who repairs HVAC systems. He has a high school diploma and a bunch of technical certs. Handy with math but everything else is OJT and training certs. He makes bank. Same with a plumber I know.
in the US, at least, higher ed is a way to funnel people into debt, the military, both, or (if they fail school but still get the debt) - poverty. something tells me it shouldn't be this way, no one would design a system to operate this way if the goal was producing educated citizens.
I'm not cynical enough to buy the 'schools are just prisons for kids man' - between the shootings, overreaching bullshit (10 commandments, fear of woke etc.,) and absolute hell for teachers, I gotta wonder: who does all this garbage profit?
some conservatives want stupid voters, sure, but they also need skilled workers....
The issue is everyone in America should be educated up to a college degree level in core areas! Yes, absolutely we need more people going into the trades. But that doesn't mean those people shouldn't still have a college level understanding of math, reading, science, physical education, philosophy, health, history, sociology, and soooooo much more! We need to maximize the knowledge of Americans (of all people) if we are going to survive. Also that gives our younger people time to find themselves. In a perfect world you wouldn't fully enter the work force until around 25 years old. Yes that late. Until then people should be exploring, learning, and practicing trades. Not grinding away the moment they are physically able to.
Please hang in. This may be the darkness before dawn. But dawn may not come right without you.
In my twenties, I was a teacher. In my thirties, I said fuck that. System is so fucked.
In my state, there was a state level exam to qualify to become a teacher. I don't know what Oklahoma's is or what it looks like. What I do know is that it was as hard as the written portion of a drivers test.
Some people speedrun it. I had to take it twice because the phasing always gets me confused. But, it wasn't difficult at all, not to the level where I'd complain on Facebook to say it's "difficult". Maybe it's difficult if you were homeschooled and weren't taught a lot of the public school way of thinking.
Ryan Walters is a the worst thing to happen to education in Oklahoma. I don’t know his involvement in testing, but he is just the worst.
There was a principal at Western Heights (iirc) who did drag on the weekends. No one knew. He was a great principal, had excellent performance reviews, was loved by his community.
Ryan Walters showed up to the school every day to tell them to fire him. And they did.
Ryan Walters is also gay himself. Everyone in the community knows this. He’s a chicken shit human, who helped write the evil woke social science standards, before he decided to have a political career.
you’ll have to step in to help your team
If you had impostor syndrome starting out like most people do, that must've been a wild ride. Feeling like a fraud while also being inarguably the most qualified person there sounds like a special hell.