Tiba said, "A master's degree is all a person needs to be a...

Tiba said, "A master's degree is all a person needs to be a high school teacher or a college professor." This time Tiba got his facts wrong.

A person does not need to have a master's degree to teach HIGH SCHOOL, just a BA and a state teaching certificate.

Several members of my family teach high school so I know this for a fact. JUNIOR COLLEGES are another step up. To teach at a junior college, you must have a master's degree.

You do not need a Ph.D., but if you have a Ph.D. from a MEDIOCRE institution, and CAN'T get a teaching job at a reputable university, a junior college will welcome you and pay you more than a person with a master's degree.

Now, real ACCREDITED FOUR YEAR COLLEGES AND PH.D. UNIVERSITIES have two types of instructors.

Students tend to call all of them "professor," but if you pay attention, you will notice that the faculty and staff never make that mistake.

The faculty and staff will refer to the teacher with the Ph.D. as DOCTOR, because that is in fact what the initials stand for, DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY.

Most respectable colleges wont hire a person who is only working on their Ph.D. unless it is for such classes as language 101, or PE (physical exercises), or such classes as cooking etc. A respectable college would not risk their reputation by allowing people working on their Ph.D. to teach such classes as philosophy, history, anthropology, or political science.

A Ph.D. UNIVERSITY may allow their own graduate students to teach some of their undergraduate classes, but most times these are graduate students who are already ABD. That is when a graduate student has finished all their Ph.D. courses and is just working on their dissertation.

These Graduate Students teach what are called Sections, however, they are not the main instructors for classes.

At these universities, a class will have a Professor and also several GSIs, who hold classes to help the students understand the Professor's lectures.

Now, let me see if I can make this clear.

Haitians often confuse the gradations of college achievements in the US. A GSI is not considered a college professor on any level.

Even though he teaches at a college, he/she makes pennies and does all the nasty work that the professor does not want to do.

Someone with just a master's degree, who is not pursuing their Ph.D., can teach at a Junior college or even some beginner or training classes at a local four year college, BUT WILL NOT be a Professor at a serious, accredited University.

Furthermore, someone with a Ph.D. from a mediocre college will not get a job teaching at a TOP UNIVERSITY (that means a college with Ph.D. courses--not just four years) unless their parents are on the Board of trustees.

Someone with a master's degree who is teaching at a serious four-year college IS NOT A PROFESSOR (although the students who don't know any better call him/her that).

The faculty and staff all know that that individual is a LECTURER OR AN ADJUNCT.

That person will never move up in salary as much as the professor, they will not get the funding that professors get, they will never get what professors cherish most--tenure.

ADJUNCTs, a GSIs, Lecturers, and Teachers can all teach BUT ARE NOT PROFESSORS.