Issue date: 2/20/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Yosuke Naruse Students, professors attend open house at the College of Education last Wednesday at Sac State. [Click to enlarge]

The College of Education sought to prepare Sacramento State students interested in becoming future educators at its open house.

The goal of the open house was to "encourage and inform the undergraduate and graduate students of future job opportunities and the options that are available to them as educators," said Vanessa Sheared, dean of the College of Education.

Through its credential programs, internships and masters programs in higher education, the College of Education hopes to inform as many students as possible and prepare them for their future.

For students unsure about which career path to take, informational maps were created for them to walk through different educational sessions. The college sessions provided face-to-face interaction between professors and students among the different departments at the College of Education.

During the open house held last Wednesday, information was provided regarding bilingual education, counseling, educational leadership and policy studies, child development, special education, teacher education and credential programs.

Students confused about which classes or exams to take, and how to get into a credential program, spoke to professors in Eureka hall.

Leo Vasquez, counseling education graduate student, urged students to take advantage of the open house to further pursue a career in education. He advised students to get rid of their fear of communicating with professors and to seek help.

"Students must walk through the doors of fear and enter the land of resources," Vasquez said. The open house not only provided crucial career information, but gave conditional graduate students the opportunity to network and a foot in the door to become accepted into the graduate program, Vasquez said.

Decline in enrollment, as a result of tuition increases, and the lack of funding were the main reasons why the college sought to recruit and inform students of the importance in becoming future educators.

"Due to the lack of support, we hope that the information given out helps the many confused students," said Pia Wong, associate dean to the College of Education.

Current credential student Caroline Sweet said the present educational system in California does not prepare its students to adapt to the different modalities in multiculturalism.

Sweet, who is a member of the Student California Teachers Association, recounts her personal experience as a student as being "daunting and confusing" at times when taken to a diverse classroom. She was pleased to see the positive turnout of students who are interested in education and plans to help in bettering the system in California.

Educational reform is necessary in order to improve California's educational system. According to a study performed by Stanford University in 2007, the state of California ranked lowest in the areas of math, reading and science compared to the other 49 states in K-12 levels. The study focused on how the lack of funding to California's public school system can have a direct effect in the low quality of education received by the students.

The College of Education's goal toward reform is to change the quality of education through diversity, community and collaboration.

Angela Drope, executive vice president of the Student California Teachers Association, rallied against the fee increases. She not only hoped the open house informed Sac State students of the advantages of an educational career, but encouraged political involvement in order to create change.

"Students must rally together in order to stop fees from increasing at Sac State," Drope said. She emphasized the importance of the need to know what's going on in education.

Vanessa Guerrero can be reached at vguerrero@statehornet.com.

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