Approximately 30 students congregated in Rockefeller Center yesterday afternoon to discuss their concerns about finding and changing careers in education.
Education Department Chair Robert Binswanger and Anne Segal, an elementary school principal in Lebanon, described their own teaching experiences and what paths are available to Dartmouth students in education.
Binswanger urged students to be aggressive in seeking out a job three months before anyone else does. He said Dartmouth graduates are in a unique position because they boast a great education but come from a school little known for producing teachers.
"You have to be arrogant if you're coming from Dartmouth," Binswanger said. "Most people think why would you want to teach coming from Dartmouth?" He said the College is better known for graduates who are authors and politicians.
"You have to be a pain in the posterior if you want a job," he said.
Binswanger told students they have a "duty" to lead no matter what career they choose but that the classroom provides an ideal space to do so. He encouraged those who want to enter into the education field to be teachers, not administrators.
"The education business is not a business to make widgets," he said. "The classroom is where the action is."
Segal, who has taught in elementary schools and supervised three local high schools, disagreed with Binswanger's focus on the classroom. She said teaching is a good start but that administrating is valuable and rewarding as well.
"If you like being with kids and you like seeing the gleam in their eyes it is fantastic," she said.
Segal also mentioned New Hampshire's Alternative Five as an option for students who want to teach but who did not receive a certificate in education during college. The program allows student who have a "B" in their major to earn a certificate to teach in that area after holding a teaching job for one year.
