(DailyVantage.com) – According to data from the National Center for Educational Statistics, the number of people receiving degrees in education has dropped significantly in the past 50 years, Fox News reported.
From the 1970–71 academic year to the 2020–21 academic year, while the number of college students jumped by almost 150 percent, the number of students obtaining a degree in education fell by nearly 50 percent.
In the early 1970s, education was the most popular major, with 176,307 education degrees conferred in 1970–71. Social sciences and history came in second with 155,324 degrees conferred, while business came in third with 115,396.
According to school choice advocate Corey DeAngelis, the drop in education degrees is not surprising since teachers’ pay has not increased very much in the last half-century. DeAngelis told Fox News that while more money is poured into the education system, it hasn’t made its way to the teachers. He said the cost per student for public education increased by more than 150 percent adjusted for inflation from 1970 to 2019, while teachers’ salaries only increased by 8 percent.
DeAngelis added that school choice would not only be a win for parents and students, but it would also be a win for teachers.
He explained that competition through school choice would force public schools to find incentives to spend their money “more wisely” to attract good teachers rather than waste it on “administrative bloat, union bosses, and political activity.” DeAngelis claimed competition in the market for teachers would also make public schools that want to “retain talent” “think twice” about making the lives of their teachers miserable.
DeAngelis added that every study he has seen has found that competition through school choice leads to increased salaries for teachers in public schools.
Georgetown University economist Nicole Smith recently told CBS News that in the past, women mostly pursued degrees in “caring” professions like teaching. But over time, as opportunities for women expanded, women were more likely to consider business degrees or degrees in STEM.
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