From pursuing the good to teaching it

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From pursuing the good to teaching it
16% of Hillsdale’s class of 2020 are employed as teachers. Haley Strack | The Collegian

As the spring semester nears its end, current Hillsdale seniors are exploring post-graduation career options. Like many graduates before them, a large number of the 2021 graduating class are considering teaching as their career paths. 

According to the First Destination Survey issued by Career Services, 16% of the graduates from the class of 2020 reported they are employed as teachers or in a supportive role in a Barney Charter School or another classical, private, or public school in the United States. This is a 4% increase from the class of 2019, in which 12% of the graduates reported they were employed as such. The class of 2021 is expected to follow the trend of graduating a high number of students into the education field.

Hadiah Ritchey ’20, the project manager for Career Services, said it’s no surprise that a large portion of Hillsdale graduates pursue careers in education.

“Since so much of Hillsdale’s education focuses on the question, ‘What does it mean to be human?’ I think Hillsdale students are inclined to see the value in the human experience and naturally want to share that value with those around them,” Ritchey wrote in an email. “There are many ways to embrace human dignity and the beauty of the world around us, but teaching uniquely combines continued academic investment with that wonder and appreciation for the human soul that Hillsdale encourages throughout the classes here.”

Ritchey was instrumental in the success of the Classical School Job Fair, an annual event hosted by Career Services that helps students seeking careers in education. 

“The CSJF is one of my very favorite events on campus all year — it’s incredible to see so many people with a passion for education in the same room,” Ritchey wrote. “Oftentimes, the job search can be overwhelming and feel insurmountable, but the CSJF reduces the burden for employers and students alike. Schools come to the fair ready to hire Hillsdale students.”

In 2009, Career Services hosted its first CSJF in conjunction with the English, history, politics, and speech departments. The fair attracted 15 schools from nine states. In the same year, Hillsdale replaced a program that allowed students to earn a teaching certificate with a classical education minor. 

In the 2008-2009 President’s Report, the Education Department cited two important reasons for adding the minor: “the burgeoning classical school community and the growing number of Hillsdale students interested in teaching within it.”

Assistant Professor of Theology Cody Strecker ’08 graduated the year before Hillsdale implemented its classical education minor in 2009.

“I remember the conversations about that because I was working for the college then and heard some of that, but I think that there was a limited number of students who were getting that certification, and the judgment was made that this other approach would better fit both what our students want to do and what Hillsdale prepares them to do,” Strecker said.

After Strecker received his B.A. in classics at Hillsdale, he went on to pursue an M.T.S. in early Christian theology at Duke University, and eventually earned his Ph.D. in religion at Baylor University. Strecker noted students’ desire to serve something larger as a potential reason for why so many Hillsdale graduates pursue teaching careers.

“Our doctors and lawyers serve the community, and certainly you can serve in any profession, but to do it when you know you’re not going to be paid very much, and you’ll be doing work that most people wouldn’t want, and that doesn’t come with the same kind of prestige — there’s something to be lauded about that,” Strecker said. “One in five or six graduates are choosing that, when given their brains and their education, they could do almost anything. It’s a sign that they are being formed in terms of character and a desire to think of more than what they can get out of life.”

According to Ritchey, Hillsdale students are provided vast opportunities in education post-graduation. Classical educators, she said, trust Hillsdale students to do excellent work.

“Because of the high demand for Hillsdale graduates, seniors are able to pick opportunities that align with their vocational interests. Additionally, the job fair allows freshmen, sophomores, and juniors to build connections and begin the vocational discernment process early,” Ritchey wrote.

Coupled with resources available to students from the Barney Charter School Initiative, a project of Hillsdale that promotes classical charter schools, there is a wide breadth of opportunity available to students who are interested in the field of education.

“As BCSI partners with schools all over the country, students have access to hear from experts in education who know the ins and outs of curriculum, school structure, and the classroom experience. Because of BCSI, students are exposed to multiple teachers in multiple subjects, each of which offer unique perspectives on classical education,” Ritchey wrote. “If students are interested in teaching after Hillsdale, the staff at BCSI are incredibly helpful in discussing types of school settings and personalized advice for their goals.”

Strecker said he was grateful for Hillsdale’s support of the BCSI, specifically because it is committed to the country as a whole rather than only those who can afford private school. 

“Those are good and that’s fine, but seeking to make the gifts of the tradition accessible to those who otherwise aren’t going to have it is where we should be putting our efforts,” Strecker said. 

Graduating senior Jessie Collins secured a teaching position at Northwest Ohio Classical Academy, where she will teach fourth grade. As a psychology major, English minor, Collins has learned the necessary factors for the cultivation of the soul — which she hopes to reflect in her own classroom.

“I think that the combination of my psychology and English classes have helped me better understand my vocation and desire to teach. The blend of these two disciplines has taught me the value of considering the entire human person: those aspects of our identity as humans which may be scientifically and systematically measured, as well as those parts which cannot be reduced in that way,” Collins said. “This conception of man is embodied within classical education and has made me realize my desire to continue this inquiry through teaching.”

Hillsdale’s connections in the field of classical education opened doors for Collins, which ultimately helped her secure the position she now has at Northwest.

“I was able to attend the CSJF that Career Services puts on and talk to more than 10 schools that were located in my desired post-grad area and whose missions aligned with my own personal values,” Collins said. “After the job fair, I attended a few on-site school visits and had several secondary interviews which helped narrow down my search.”

At Hillsdale, Strecker said, students are in a constant state of teaching through being taught, which may fuel their vocation.

“Especially as students enter into the upper level courses, they are already participating in the work of teaching their fellow students and professors, through dialogue, through presentation, through discussions,” Strecker said. “Most of the students I’ve seen in the past few years who are intending to go on to teach are studying whatever they love here, and then they figure out how to turn that into a career later. There are certain practical skills and credentials that need to happen but largely the best teachers are those who have a deep and loving encounter with what they want to teach and can draw others into that.”

Despite the changes since he was a student at Hillsdale, Strecker said the principles in the education department remain the same. 

“The college, at least in the last 20 years, has been about the same things,” Strecker said. “Are we getting better at doing them more consistently? Maybe. Is the kind of potential of the incoming freshmen class higher than it was? Maybe. But the friends of mine who went into education after graduation in 2008 are doing it for the very same reasons as the ones who are today.”