Frustrated

The other night I spent two and a half excruciating hours watching bad high school theater and I can’t get a job!
I watched a school with money and resources and at least 40 kids deeply involved in a drama program that taught them nothing over the course of an entire semester and I can’t get a job!
I saw teenagers performing material that they did not understand, directed by a teacher who clearly does not have the capacity to help them understand and I can’t get a job!
I live in a state where the criterion for teaching drama in schools seems to be possession of a Master’s Degree regardless of any ability on the part of that teacher to actually teach something, and I can’t get a job! Would you permit a dance teacher to teach math; an art teacher to teach chemistry? Why is just any teacher permitted to teach drama? Certification in English does NOT mean you are qualified to teach drama.
There is currently no teacher certification in drama which may partially explain why so many of these school programs are such a disaster, but I can’t get a job! Wake up folks! Theatre is not math or science. It is an art. It requires an understanding that goes beyond the written page. It requires talent. It is a communications medium and any teacher who is not qualified to impart the basics of communication to their students should not be teaching drama! But I can’t get a job!
Regardless of whether or not a student ever sets foot upon a professional stage, the advantages to be gained from learning how to speak, to empathize, to translate a playwright’s words into action, to understand something of the human condition, are immeasurable. These skills make better lawyers, doctors, and even teachers. You are shortchanging the students by not insisting on quality education in this communications medium. You are wasting their time and opportunity.
Admittedly, even certification in theatre would not necessarily mean one is qualified to teach theatre. It’s clear if a dancer can dance or if an art teacher can draw or paint. It is not so clear in theatre. But, to begin, a certification process should include directing and acting courses, theatre history, script interpretation, development of a vocabulary and a review process that tests potential teachers to see if they can communicate what they have learned.
And I can’t get a job! Frustrated!