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This column reflects the opinion of the writer. Learn about the differences between a news story and an opinion column.

Shortcut is wrong answer

Your Nov. 9 featured story with the amazing headline, “Area schools face substitute shortage,” showboats a solution for handling substitute teacher shortages in local area public schools. The solution it seems is to grant “emergency certification.”

This approach to the handling of substitute teacher shortages might well be summed up as the fallacy of doing A while hoping for B. Imagine, for example, the handling of shortages in the fields of medicine, science, engineering and more in the same fashion. Why not employ emergency certification for medical doctors, advanced registered nurse practitioners, computer programmers, physical therapists?

Hmm. The powers that be might want to consider requiring some standard of certification for presidential candidates.

Robert McGinty

Liberty Lake

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