Education requirements
The Michigan State Board of Education should enhance the certification requirements for elementary teachers to make them more well-rounded for their positions.
However, universities ought to be properly prepared by the state to make the change.
The requirements are to be in effect at state universities by 2011, and will make teachers able to teach all core content areas in K-8 schools, including special needs students.
The major requirement change is the standardization of major options. Students can pick a comprehensive major or a core subject option under this requirement.
With the new requirements, elementary education teachers are required to gain more field experience. This can only benefit the students and should be heavily enforced because hands-on learning is the best way to get comfortable in any trade.
As a bonus, the board will allow some overlap with the standards to fulfill the demand for teachers in the classroom.
All these changes seem to only benefit teaching students and their perspective classrooms, but will this ultimately make their time in school longer?
The unspoken norm for education majors is five years already, but with additional requirements, it is unknown how students will graduate in time without changes to university requirements.
With tuition only rising in the state of Michigan, education students may not be able to afford five-plus years as a full-time student.
If the state of Michigan gave a larger appropriation to higher education for teaching students, tuition would fall and classes might be more financially manageable.
The Board of Education should make requirements tougher because teaching positions are critical, but these changes need to be made reasonably with students and their checkbook in mind.
