An Indiana education officer may just get his wish to raise the amount of time college students who hope to become educators spend studying education and lessening the hours that students spend learning how to teach, according to the Evansville Courier and Press. This move could prove to be a drastic change for college students whose career choices are in teaching.

Tony Bennett’s (the education officer, not the singer) suggestion has actually been met with a lot of positivity from teachers. The article reports that many who say teachers with better knowledge of the subjects that teach will lead to higher quality education.

However, there’s always another side. Some have said that students with learning disabilities, language difficulties and discipline issues need more content not skill, the article said.

This debate on education is something that may have many states considering different measures to educate their teachers. Evansville Courier and Press reported that Bennett’s proposal would have students who want to become secondary education teachers major in that and only minor in education. Then, elementary education teachers could major in education but still would need a minor in another area like English or math

As a journalism major, I had to do something similar. I was able to major in journalism, but the program I did required a minor (mine was sociology). Although I am only really using my major, sociology gave me a little insight on how to deal with people (and life in general).

People on the side of Bennett’s argument have said that just because you know the content of a field doesn’t necessarily make you a good teacher, the Courier and Press said. That can be said for most professions, and the article does make an interesting point---redundancy in education programs. A certain university had education students take a general education psychology course and then a methods course that was repetitive, the article said. Bennett reminded everyone that it is the 21st century and lots of majors are changing, not just education.

Our Take:

I think this is an interesting idea that Bennett introduces. I do agree that some things in the classroom can be repetitive. However, I think that students do need the classroom work as a foundation to their careers. The skills acquired are what internships or being teacher’s assistants or aides are for. I think that there is a reason why the idea of a classroom was invented---to teach.