Masters at teaching

I remember being told by someone (a secretary in the school, actually), that as a parent, she would rather have someone who knew how to teach than someone who knew the material. That (in this state) you can pass a test to be certified in a subject, and that mastering the material is secondary to being able to deliver it.

That certainly seems to be the philosophy in this county. Everyone (the principal [English], the superintendent [middle grades social studies], the assistant superintendent in charge of curriculum [middle grades English], the math curriculum specialist [middle grades English NO MATH]) involved in supervising us may be the world's best teachers but they do not know math, they do not know the curriculum. When we try to discuss problems, they cannot hear what we are saying because they are not math people.

Science comes the closest - and there are two science people over us and they seem to get it. (They also understand that science has freedoms in what you can do to illustrate a point.) It is easier to use mentos and diet coke to make a point than to expound on the Pythagorean Theorem.

I am getting frustrated trying to bridge this misunderstnding.

There is more to teaching math than spiffy teaching techniques. You have to know the math.

Why is that so difficult?