Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute comments on how schools of education are attempting to “regulate the dispositions and beliefs of those who would teach in our nation’s classrooms.”
What is misguided about Hess’s account is that he fails to emphasize that teacher education departments are the loci of teacher “reeducation.” They have the most money, power, students, and faculty members. Often, ed school deans will come from the ranks of teacher education departments, which makes matters even worse.
I have been fortunate to do my graduate studies in departments of education policy and foundations of education (essentially education humanities), which never pressure students to adopt a particular set of beliefs. My education policy and foundations of education colleagues at other universities agree. My point is that there are still places in schools of education that believe in freedom of thought (and high academic standards). Unfortunately, these departments are small, are in decline, and are considered by many in the education establishment to be unnecessary.
