Over the summer, WashU announced that it will be discontinuing its teacher education program for all students matriculating in Fall 2025 and beyond. The Teacher Education program, which is housed in the education department but is separate from the more popular Educational Studies major, has struggled with dwindling enrollment and the high cost of hiring adjunct faculty members to teach specialized courses.

Yet at the moment when the nation needs quality teachers most, WashU has chosen to eliminate its teacher education program. In an August email, the Education Department at WashU informed students that, “due to ongoing challenges and budgetary constraints,” the department will be discontinuing its teacher education programs for students entering WashU in fall 2025 and beyond.

Chemistry professors Richard Loomis and Megan Daschbach delivered this semester’s Last Lecture, a semesterly series where professors give a lecture as if it is their last one ever.

Most parents don’t expect their five-year-olds to be taught by Latino male military vets. That was a lesson I learned quickly when I began teaching kindergarten more than a decade ago.

After a few months at Wash. U., I was happy to have established that education might be a major worth pursuing during my time in college. I soon found out, however, that this seemingly liberating decision only led to a more complicated fork in the road. Wash. U.’s education program separates its students out into two categories that aren’t necessarily distinct.

At a recent meeting of the Arts & Sciences faculty, it was announced that Washington University plans to create a new faculty position within Arts & Sciences—the Professor of the Practice.