Why does he want to to Vandy? To feel upper class when he gets to middle school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son wants to be a middle school teacher. He has high rigor, great grades at a top DMV private. 1550. Dream school is Vanderbilt or similar places. looking at applying as an education major or at a minimum emphasizing education in essays, etc,
All extracurriculars support this: paid jobs at camps, volunteering at an elementary school, head of Best Buddies, paid internship at a Dept of health doing peer education etc.

Do you think applying to elite universities with a strong interest in education helps or hurts one's cause? It's not a popular choose these days (good) but may not be viewed as enough of an aspirational career (potentially bad?... don't these schools mostly want kids who have the raw material to future tech CEOs, etc? Kind of kidding but not.
Thoughts?

Is there a particular reason why he wants to do middle school?

Does he realize that it is by far the hardest set of years to teach?

I think what you meant to say is thank goodness there are smart young men like OPs son who are interested enough in kids and the future to want to teach and work with middle schoolers

OP here. So far I'm neither discouraging it nor encouraging it. I doubt he will teach for a 30 year career. More likely he'll end up in graduate school or law school in 10 years. My father took this path and my son knows his grandfather well.
My son has always loved kids. He's a super outgoing, dynamic, funny, charismatic person. He has loved many of his own teachers. He would be a fantastic teacher/coach. I can completely see it.
Finances may eventually come into play eventually as he's not a trust fund kid or anything like that but I'm a firm believer that kids can (even in 2023) explore passions/interests for a season before every life or career decision needs to be made based on the financial return.
We're committed to paying or undergrad (regardless of major). Why not let the kid pursue his passion? I know that neither my husband or I settled into our eventual long-term careers until we were 30.

Anyway, again--> the real point of my post is whether an interest in education will be a positive with admissions (because it's unique) or negative (because it's not viewed as prestigious or high intensity). Clearly not everyone can be a computer science, finance or pre-med major but how does this really play out?

What are his reasons for wanting to teach middle school? What are the odds he will change his mind in a few years? No way would I pay 85k for an education degree.
Being a teacher is worthwhile but it is a hard job. I’m guessing he has no clue what being a teacher is really like

Yes, it will help. Universities that have separate schools such as education admit into each schools. So he would be competing against only the other kids applying to the education school.

Major in the subject he wants to teach. Shouldn’t major in education.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you encouraging this?
I’m a hs teacher and I think it is best to major in a subject rather than education.

You have stronger content knowledge which will make you a better teacher for middle and high school. Education majors are easy and boring.
Teaching cannot be taught through theory. You learn how to teach once you are in the classroom.

Vandy’s program is like this

Their secondary education major makes you have another subject matter major

If I'm reading their site correctly, so does their elementary education major.

That is preferable, whether your school requires it or not, because most teachers don't make it 5 years. If you have another major, you have something to fall back on. So, something to consider no matter where he goes.

Bad. If he wants to be a teacher, it's best to go to an in state public university which has good ties to the local school systems.

If he wants to live in another state, then he needs to pick a public university in that state.

There is no reason to go private unless he just wants to spend a lot of money, and no need to go out of state unless he plans to live in that state post graduation.

Anonymous wrote:Why apply to elite universities if he is interested in Vanderbilt. Just apply there and to similar schools.

Shots fired

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you encouraging this?
I’m a hs teacher and I think it is best to major in a subject rather than education.

You have stronger content knowledge which will make you a better teacher for middle and high school. Education majors are easy and boring.
Teaching cannot be taught through theory. You learn how to teach once you are in the classroom.

Vandy’s program is like this

Their secondary education major makes you have another subject matter major

If I'm reading their site correctly, so does their elementary education major.

Anonymous wrote:Why are you encouraging this?
I’m a hs teacher and I think it is best to major in a subject rather than education. You have stronger content knowledge which will make you a better teacher for middle and high school. Education majors are easy and boring.
Teaching cannot be taught through theory. You learn how to teach once you are in the classroom.

This.
- someone who majored in the subject, minored in education and got a initial teaching certificate while at a SLAC

Why apply to elite universities if he is interested in Vanderbilt. Just apply there and to similar schools.

Anonymous wrote:Why are you encouraging this?
I’m a hs teacher and I think it is best to major in a subject rather than education.

You have stronger content knowledge which will make you a better teacher for middle and high school. Education majors are easy and boring.
Teaching cannot be taught through theory. You learn how to teach once you are in the classroom.

Vandy’s program is like this

Their secondary education major makes you have another subject matter major

Anonymous wrote:Why are you encouraging this?
I’m a hs teacher and I think it is best to major in a subject rather than education. You have stronger content knowledge which will make you a better teacher for middle and high school. Education majors are easy and boring.
Teaching cannot be taught through theory. You learn how to teach once you are in the classroom.

Fair point about the content knowledge, but I imagine a Vanderbilt educational studies alum would be qualified to teach quite a bit in middle school, possibly even in high school. But a complementary minor in a specific middle school subject they would like to teach would be wise.

Why are you encouraging this?
I’m a hs teacher and I think it is best to major in a subject rather than education. You have stronger content knowledge which will make you a better teacher for middle and high school. Education majors are easy and boring.
Teaching cannot be taught through theory. You learn how to teach once you are in the classroom.