Many teacher preparation programs in the U.S. are hotbeds of leftism. Students are imbued with worthless notions about teaching along with big doses of anti-American, anti-capitalist ideology. The graduates are not well-prepared to be good teachers, but they can hector students about all of our socio-economic ills.
One school that doesn’t follow that script is Hillsdale College. In today’s Martin Center article, Davis Smith discusses how his school differs from the education establishment.
He begins with the standards for accreditation imposed by the main ed school accreditor:
Of its seven standards required for “initial” accreditation, only one is devoted to “content and pedagogical knowledge.” And rather than focusing on actual topics teachers need to know, it involves “facilitat[ing] candidates’ reflection of their personal biases to increase their understanding and practice of equity, diversity, and inclusion.”
Hillsdale decided it wanted no part of that.
Smith continues:
Even before leaving state certification behind, Hillsdale did not offer a major in education. Rather, it required future teachers to complete a rich and rigorous core curriculum and to major in an academic subject just like any other student at the college. This broad and deep formation provided by the core was not to be sidelined by an over-emphasis on education courses based on whatever fads were favored by the education establishment.
The graduates of Hillsdale’s program are in high demand by schools that care about quality instruction, not ideological preaching.
Read the whole thing.