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Oct. 29 panel on how to raise the stature of the teaching profession

John Hennessy (Photo by L.A. Cicero)
John Hennessy
Claude Steele
Claude Steele

Oct. 29 panel on how to raise the stature of the teaching profession

The event features President John Hennessy, Dean Claude Steele, Professor Michael Kirst and Rachel Lotan, Stanford Teacher Education Program director.

Stanford President John Hennessy and leaders from the Graduate School of Education will meet Tuesday, Oct. 29, to discuss how the United States can steer more talented students into teaching and other aspects of education.

Organized by the recently established Stanford Pre-Education Society, the event, “How Do We Attract Our Brightest Students to Careers in Education — Especially Teaching?” will take place from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on campus in the CEMEX Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Julia Quintero, president and founder of SPREES, said that while low salaries may deter many college students from teaching, the profession also suffers from a lack of status.

“We can’t do much about the money right now,” she said, “but something we can do is raise the prestige of teaching.”

The four speakers at the event —Hennessy, Graduate School of Education Dean Claude Steele, Professor Emeritus Michael Kirst and Professor Rachel Lotan — will begin by describing different careers within education. Each brings a different background to the event:

• Hennessy, a pioneer in computer architecture whose work revolutionized computing, has long been a champion of Stanford’s developing the next generation of teacher-leaders.

• Steele is a social psychologist known for his work on stereotype threat, which he has shown can lower the performance of underrepresented minorities, women, and white and Asian-American students, among others. He is the author of the 2010 book Whistling Vivaldi and Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us.

• Kirst, president of the California State Board of Education, has focused on education policy over the past five decades. A professor emeritus in education and business, he has written extensively on school finance politics and education policy reform.

• Lotan is a former junior high and high school teacher who now directs the Stanford Teacher Education Program.

Once each panelist has given a five-minute introduction, Quintero will moderate a discussion about how the teaching profession can attract and retain the nation’s brightest students. Afterward, there will be a question and answer period.

Quintero, a junior majoring in human biology and history, founded SPREES last year to help students like her who want to become teachers.

“I felt we needed more resources for students interested in education,” she said. “We can help support each other.  We’re all here because of teachers.”

Quintero was quoted in an Oct. 24 story in the Stanford Daily about SPREES’ advocating for the university to establish a pre-education career advising service for undergraduates.

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Mandy Erickson writes frequently for the Graduate School of Education.


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