TO THE EDITOR:
As senior elementary education majors, we were excited to see education featured on the front page of Friday’s DTH. After reading the article, “A bite out of education,” however, we were disappointed with the amount of misinformation being presented about the fate of our cohorts after graduation.
The article cites the number of students in the School of Education over the past two years, but fails to mention that nearly 100 percent of graduates who wanted teaching jobs got teaching jobs. Also, in response to state budget cuts, the SOE reduced the amount of students they accepted into the elementary program for Fall 2011 by 30 to 35, essentially cutting the program in half.
The writer mentions the increase in UNC graduates enrolled in Teach For America. This fact is both irrelevant and disproves the whole message of the article. In 2010, education majors made up only 4 percent of TFA corps members from that year.
This proves not only that education majors don’t typically enter TFA, but in this tough economic climate, non-education majors are turning to education jobs after graduation. While North Carolina’s unemployment rate just hit 10.4 percent, school systems around the state still have teaching positions open, including Wake, Durham, Charlotte-Mecklenburg and CHCCS.
There is no denying that N.C. public schools are feeling the burn of budget cuts. But the state will always need teachers and education majors have a better shot than most at getting a job in this economy.
Pauline Gremaud
Kathleen McDonald
Elementary Education
