Future of Educating Teachers Part I: History of a teaching school

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Editor’s Note: This is part one in a four-part series about the future of teaching.

Norma Bailey, professor of middle level education, said she wants to be optimistic about the future of education in Michigan.

“There will always be jobs for good teachers and we produce good teachers here,” she said.

Bailey said there have been fewer students signing up for EDU 107: Introduction to Teaching classes in recent years, however and this is reflected in the number of teacher education candidates graduating from Central Michigan University.

“I think we’re going to see ups and downs, but overall there has been a decrease,” she said.

CMU opened in 1892 as the Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute, with classes in teaching, business and stenography. CMU founders made teacher training their mission because few of the state’s teachers received any formal training in teaching at the time.

The school’s educational offerings grew more comprehensive in the years after its founding and students completing two years of schooling beyond high school began receiving life teaching certificates in 1903.

Before World War II, the school’s name changed first to Central State Teachers College, then to Central Michigan College of Education. The 1959 name change to Central Michigan University reflected the growth in complexity of academic programs, but educational programs continued to develop.

The Education and Human Services building, opened in 2009, is one of the newest academic expansions designed to prepare students for professional careers in education and human services.

Renee Papelian, director of ProfEd and assistant to the dean of the Center for Student Services in the College of Education and Human Services, said in an email the number of teacher education candidates that graduated in the 2009-10 school year was 573, up from 539 graduates in 2008-09. However, these data are lower than the 578 graduates in 2007-08 and the 626 graduates in 2006-07.

Bailey said the state of the job market is having an effect on the amount of students seeking education degrees. She said although some students pay attention to the news and are aware of Gov. Rick Snyder’s cuts to K-12 schools in Michigan, most students are worried about the economy in general.

“I don’t think it’s specifically what Snyder has done,” she said.

Bailey said her students are nervous about finding jobs after graduation, and many have accepted they will have to move out of Michigan.

Students should take jobs in Michigan if they can find them, but out-of-state jobs also provide valuable experience, she said.

“I think that’s OK. That’s a reality,” she said. “You can always come back.”

Bailey said a lack of teaching jobs in Michigan should not discourage students who have a passion for teaching. More jobs will be available after the economy improves and retiring baby boomers open positions for new teachers, she said.

“We shouldn’t be denying what we want to do because there aren’t as many jobs,” she said.

Bailey said attacks on teacher unions, tenure and seniority are other concerns for education students. She said a few bad teachers sometimes give all educators the reputation of being mean or lazy.

“Teaching takes a lot of brunt of the criticism,” she said. “There are bad eggs out there, but there are bad eggs in everything.”

Bailey said CMU produces “good novice teachers,” but it takes about four or five years for people to master their teaching styles. She said most people have no clue what it takes to be an effective teacher.

“Nobody tells their doctors how to doctor, their lawyers how to lawyer or their veterinarians how to veterinarian,” she said, “but most everyone will tell teachers how to teach just because they went to school for 13 years.”