Teacher-Educators Call For Return Of Education History Courses To Standard Teacher Preparation.

Education Week (9/16, Sawchuk) reports some teacher-educators are calling for more teachers to take history of education classes as part of their studies. Education majors used to be required to take a history of education course to obtain their degrees, but as the teacher-preparation curriculum expanded in recent decades many colleges dropped the requirement and turned it into an elective. Katherine K. Merseth, the director of teacher preparation for the Harvard Graduate School of Education, said that educators are missing out when they do not learn the history of their profession. Merseth said teachers knowing the history of American education, including school segregation, is important.