Treating the Congenital Malaise in Teacher Education

Abstract

When I finished reading John Goodlad's lead article for this issue, I thought perhaps there was a typo in the title and he meant the title to be Wither Schools of Education, describing a final stage of the congenital malaise (Goodlad, 1999 [this issue]). After 100 years of resistance to Dewey's notion of pedagogy and the continuing resistance of teacher education to any significant structural change, perhaps the congenital malaise has reached a terminal stage. Goodlad ends his article on a note that so saddened me that for several weeks I did not know how to respond. Schools of Education claiming that they are doing what is implied are not and probably will not.... Sustained optimism depends on our social and political democracy developing and adhering to an educational narrative that differs markedly from the one that dominates today (pp. 335-336). I was not shocked by these conclusions; I share them. I was saddened because it seemed as if John Goodlad had given up on us. I have long looked to John Goodlad as my hero in teacher education. He has sustained his optimism. He has kept us focused on the moral and ethical nature of teaching. He has stayed the course of improving teacher education when other leaders in professional education have jumped to more popular and prestigious causes. I have applauded nearly all of Goodlad's suggestions for improving teacher education. My single professional goal for 32 years has been to prepare better teachers. I have needed a hero. It is sad to see your hero lose optimism. We need John Goodlad to inspire us and to inspire the new generation of teacher educators. Without optimistic leadership, teacher education falls victim to the internal forces of tradition that abhor change, to bureaucratization that seeks operational definitions of teaching, and to the vagaries of the dominant political ideology. John's article has given us a revealing historical account of teacher education's evolution. It is not an optimistic account. It has given us insight into the root causes of our congenital malaise. It has given us seven lessons that reflect a lifetime of experience in teacher education. Within the limits-set for this paper, I will not be able to address all of these important issues. I will focus my comments on the congenital malaise and the bitter pill we might need to take to effect a cure. I will use the first person pronouns we and us to refer herein to teacher educators--an identity that I proudly claim. I am intrigued by John Goodlad's description of the congenital malaise. He connects the feeling of discomfort and weakness suggested by a malaise to our existence in an inhospitable environment. We not only feel badly about ourselves but we have good reason to do so! Others don't think highly of what we do or the teachers we graduate. The story of teacher education is one of a worsening state of affairs. John Goodlad rightfully singles out our thinly grounded theoretical instruction, our fruitless search for status through scientific research, and our derogation of teacher preparation in our own SCDEs. There is one artifact of our history missing from his analysis. I suggest that the undergraduate major in education is also responsible for the worsening of the malaise. It has been a mistake to package professional course work into an undergraduate major. The Undergraduate Major in Teacher Education and the Congenital Malaise The undergraduate major in education contributes to our congenital malaise because it limits our efforts to improve the quantity and quality of teachers, exacerbates the poor public perception of teacher education, interferes with teachers' need to gain subject matter depth, and hinders effective collaboration with subject matter departments. Granted, many wonderful teachers come from our undergraduate education majors, but there are inherent flaws that deserve our attention. A number of teacher education programs at the graduate level do not require a major in education and many undergraduate institutions have moved away from the major in education, but according to America's Teachers: Profile of a Profession (U. …