Can Arts and Sciences Faculty Prepare Quality Teachers?

Abstract

The impact of the arts and sciences in the college curriculum is significant for students preparing for careers as elementary and secondary teachers. Because 50% to 85% of these students' course work is in the arts and sciences, what the arts and sciences faculty teach and how they teach their courses will have a major influence on how arts and sciences subject matter will be taught to tomorrow's students in our elementary and secondary schools. The challenge for arts and sciences faculty is to help prepare today's teacher candidates, who are predominantly White and female, to work in schools with student populations that are increasingly more diverse. The arts and sciences faculty must examine critically their own ability both to offer a culturally responsive curriculum and to model an institution that values diversity and equality. This is a task few colleges and universities have wholeheartedly embraced in the past.

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