If there were one motto for all liberal arts colleges, it might be, "we train students how to think." Colleges such as Dartmouth, are very proud of the fact that they are not vocational schools -- so much so, that sometimes this pride clouds their judgment.
Yesterday, yet another review board began meeting to discuss the future of Dartmouth's education department and to decide whether it should continue to exist at the College. Currently, some of the harshest criticisms of the education department stem from the fact that the teacher training aspect of the department is undeniably vocational.
However, this vocational part of the education department is not enough to justify its removal, and in fact, we believe that it is one of the strongest reasons for its continuation. No one can deny that an increase in the number of Ivy League educated teachers would be a benefit to American society. The education department's teacher training program prepares students to receive public school teaching positions which require that type of training. Clearly this is a unique feature of the education department that the school should be extolling, not condemning.
Secondly, the teacher training program is only one aspect of the education department. The majority of education classes can easily be classified as traditionally liberal arts in nature. They are classes that make students think. Furthermore, they are classes that students love. Education 20 is consistently included in the list of "must-take" classes at Dartmouth.
While there are some serious problems with the education department -- classes are overcrowded, there are not enough tenured and tenure-track professors and minimal research is produced -- these problems are not valid criticisms of the department itself, but rather criticisms of its lack of funding. As the review board gets underway it should recommend increasing funds to a very worthy scholastic goal, not limiting students' academic options.
