Did Teacher Educators Choose the Wrong Tradition?: Teacher Education in Texas after World War II

Teacher education remains a largely unexplored area within the history of American education. This paper is an example of the types of state-specific stories that are needed as university administrators and policymakers make critical decisions about the content and purpose of teacher ed curriculum. These decisions, in turn, have a direct impact on the status of the teaching profession and, by extension, the quality of schooling that children receive. A guiding assumption of this paper is that the status of the teaching profession within K-12 schools is directly tied to the status of teachers, teaching, and teacher education within colleges and universities. The more that the nation's leading universities prioritize teaching and teacher education, the higher the public perception will be of the profession. The opposite, of course, is true as well. The purpose of this study is to pursue these assumptions while at the same time seeking a better understanding of the history of teacher education within the state of Texas. The study focuses on the immediate post-World War II period because of the intense change that took place during this time, and because the period gave rise to momentous decisions on the part of those who were leading institutions for teacher education.