Not Enough Teachers?

I quoted a news account the other day that mentioned "a shortage of instructors" in a nursing program. Ken is skeptical. "[T]he idea," he harrumphs,"that a Community College less than 15 miles outside of Providence cannot find qualified teaching staff for a nursing program seems ludicrous."

Interesting point, hadn't thought of that, but here is a possible reason: credentialing. Might be that the program can't field a full time because it can't (or won't bother) to dot all the i's and cross all the t's you need to teach in the program. Call it trade unionism if you like--go ahead, call it that,, you are probably right. Of course, one reason this kind of trade unionism persists is precisely that we don't want the dean going out goodies at random to his brother in law. So we tie him up with a bunch of rules that keep him "honest," but keep good teachers and good students both waiting in the green room.

Anecdote: my friend Harry, sadly now dead, did a bit of sideline teaching at the "University" the "state college" and the "community college." He marveled over the irony that the further he moved down the pecking order, the more he had to do to prove his qualifications.