AU's School of Education is no exception to the criticism from a recent survey showing that a growing number of educators think education schools do not give teachers enough background in their subject matter.
Arthur Levine, the former president of Columbia University's Teachers College, surveyed school principals for the study, according to The Washington Post. The survey states that education schools do not do enough to prepare students for the difficulties of teaching in urban schools and fail to recruit the best students, according to The Post.
Only two out of every five principals surveyed said they thought education schools were preparing teachers to get new curriculum and performance standards into the classroom, according to The Post. One-third said their teachers were well prepared for maintaining classroom order, and one-fifth said their teachers were well prepared to work with parents, the survey stated.
AU School of Education Professor David Sadker said the fault lies not with the education schools themselves but with the institutions in which they are housed.
"For most universities in this country, teacher education is a cash cow," Sadker said. "They put very little money into it and get a lot out. To do it right is expensive - you need to have smaller class sizes and more professors."
Schools of education are not respected in higher education, Sadker said.
"This is unfortunate and it derives from a misperception that studying content is tough but studying to teach isn't," he said.
Amy Zeigler, a sophomore in the School of Education, part of the College of Arts and Sciences, said she thinks some people look down on the idea of majoring in education.
"Education is sometimes seen as a non-driven career. ... Everyone thinks you just take really easy classes," Zeigler said. "There is this judgment, and it all trickles down from the fact that people don't think of teaching as a profession in the end."
There is little agreement on what should be done to improve education schools. Levine praised the five-year teacher education program at the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education, according to The Post.
Sadker agrees that UVA's education school is good, but this is because the university values the program.
"We need to raise the status of education and teaching to something honorable," Sadker said. "AU's SOE, like most places, could benefit from more resources and being treated as an equal partner with other departments."
Tim Ritz, a sophomore in the School of Education, said AU does not give the school the same attention as the other academic departments. He said he thinks the solution lies in changing societal attitudes toward teaching.
"We need to make teaching a desirable study for students," Ritz said. "And of course, teachers need to get paid more"
