Future of Educating Teachers Part 2: The student voice

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

The job market for teachers in Michigan is changing the way some students perceive their career opportunities after graduation.

Rochester Hills sophomore Katelin Troy is an education student with a major in integrated science and a minor in chemistry. She said her major is not transferable to other states, so she hopes to find a job in Michigan after she graduates.

“I keep hoping things will pick up,” she said.

Troy said her parents always advised her to do what she loved and she said the bad economy won’t discourage her from becoming a teacher.

“It’s not going to stop me because I’ve always wanted to teach,” she said.

Troy said she is more concerned about the economy in general than Gov. Rick Snyder’s cuts to public schools. She said she does not follow the news as closely as she used to because she cannot prevent the cuts from happening.

“I can’t really worry about it because there’s nothing specifically I can do,” she said. “It’s out of my control.”

Troy said her biggest concern is about reductions in funding per student because of how it will affect students and their ability to learn.

Troy said it is disappointing to see students who are undisciplined and do not have the motivation to learn, partially blaming parents for the way in which they raise their children.

“Parents always say, ‘Oh, my kid can’t be wrong,’ and don’t back up teachers,” she said. “(As a teacher, I would) get parents involved on my side so they can see I’m trying to do the best for students.”

Some freshmen are undeterred by the job market for teachers in Michigan and accept they might have to find jobs elsewhere. Wixom freshman Megan Hart said her love of teaching outweighs any economic concerns.

“Honestly, it doesn’t factor in at all,” she said. “I’d rather do something I love than worry about money.”

Hart said she would like to have a job as an elementary teacher in Michigan, but she would be flexible if she had to take a job out of state. She said having relatives spread out in different areas of the country allows her to consider living far from home without being far from family.

“I’ll go wherever I can find a job,” she said.

Hart’s roommate, Keri Santeiu, remembers wanting to be a teacher, even when her classmates dreamed of becoming astronauts or the president. The Dearborn Heights freshman said she is studying early childhood education so she can teach children pre-kindergarten through second grade.

“It’s not quite as cool as saving the world,” she said. “(But) I don’t know what else I’d do.”

Santeiu realizes she might have to find a job out of state after graduation, but ideally she wants to stay in the Midwest.

“I’m kind of expecting to find a job out of state,” she said. “I’d rather go somewhere than be unemployed for two or three years.”

Switching majors

For Troy senior Lauren Salyers, economic and personal factors influenced her decision to switch out of a teaching degree.

Salyers said she was originally pursuing a teaching degree before she received an employment opportunity allowing her to stay in Michigan. She decided to switch out of her teaching degree in summer 2011 after she was promoted to assistant general manager at University Meadows.

“I’m already making more than a teacher would,” she said.

Salyers said she would have had to give up her job in student housing and delay graduation to complete her student teaching. She said for these reasons she decided to continue to double major in English and political science without a teaching degree.

“It was just a combination of the economy and I knew a lot of teachers who couldn’t find jobs,” she said.

Salyers said if the availability of education jobs in Michigan improves, she would consider getting a master’s degree and teaching at a community college later in life.

“I want to wait and see what the job market does,” she said. “It is something I’m passionate about.”