I attended a small Catholic Institution when pursuing a degree in elementary education and mathematics. On the other hand, I attended a large scale university to pursue my master's degree in developmental reading. Obviously, there is much to be said about the quality of those experiences, but also in consideration of other factors as well.
Choosing colleges may or may not be easy. I recently read a fact that said more than 80 percent of colleges and universities accept everyone that applies. This may be contrary to the myth that we have to be super geniuses to get into a good school. Certainly one doesn't have to look too hard at any school to see how far-stretched that myth is. So, as graduating high school students, choice isn't typically a problem. So, where might be a good place to go when looking to study education, in particular and generally speaking?
In my area of upstate New York there wasn't too many colleges that offered elementary education majors so I only had a couple of choices, which makes it easier. You may or may not want to stick around and attend a college where you grew up, but regardless of where you go, in my opinion there are only a couple of things to examine when making a choice. The first is money. But that is a complex factor in considering what you may or may not get with the money you're spending. I went with the college that charged more for undergraduate. For post graduate I went with the college that charged less. This is what I found.
At the college that charged more the program was more rigorous, more intimate, more hands-on, very small classes and had higher expectations. At the college that charged less (state university) the classes were much bigger in some cases, experiences less applied, atmosphere was much more formal, and the course of study less submissive.
In essence, in my experience I got what I paid for. Every college has its reputation as well. Does the college you are choosing have a reputation for being a school of excellence for training educators or does the college you are choosing have its place on the list of one of the biggest party schools in the perspective state? The quality of students coming out of schools of education that are known party schools is generally less than the quality of students coming out of more private schools noted for their educational preparation programs. This, of course, is not science but observed from my own experience.
In essence, the reputation of the school's education program, the quality of the program as determined by the coursework, and the money should all be factors (the latter I'm thinking the least important) in making a choice. I say go for the most rigorous, reputable program if you are really interested in education. Take out loans. There are too many teachers, in my opinion, coming out of colleges with sub-par education programs and half of them can't even tell you when asked why they wanted to become a teacher in the first place. I think because teaching is one of the only white collar professions that even half-baked zombies can get degrees to do. It's not like becoming a doctor or lawyer, is it? Yes, it is scary I admit. Don't be one of those zombies, please. Chances are, if you're reading this you're not. That's a good thing. Take your study seriously because kids are counting on you.
