Why did the College El Close?
Martha Smith Recalls
Martha Smith, who taught at the College
El from 1960 until it closed, and continued in the Secondary Education
Department at Central until her retirement in 1994, writes her
recollections of why the school closed.
"There are several reasons why the school closed but it was never clear just which one(s) was/were primary. At the time of the closing, much research was being done in the public schools especially in science and some thought that would be more sound research for public school application. At the time of the closing, CMU was paying $50 per student to supervising teachers in the public schools to be a supervisor. Each teacher in the lab school had 3 student teachers in the morning and 3 in the afternoon for 6 in total and was receiving more than that $300 (6x$50) in salary per semester meaning money could be saved by having student teachers work in the public schools. Some thought doing such would be a more realistic [experience] than in the lab school. At the time CMU closed, all parallel lab schools in Michigan were closed with the high schools at UM/WMU/EMU being phased out. Of course, at this same time Ball State and other universities were building "lab schools" suggesting those institutions still saw a role for such schools. I believe, even today, several remain. We in the lab school wondered if another reason was related to how the elementary departmental staff did or did not use the classrooms for demonstrations or research. When I first started, my elementary music methods class was schedule for 8:00am prior to the school being open. I felt it would be better to have that class at 9:00 so I could demonstrate to my students or have my students attempt methods we were talking about in class. We moved the methods class and did do some with the students. I think any or all of these reasons could be combined for another reason(s) for closing. This also was a time CMU was under the microscope by the state legislature for possible malfeasance. So, I guess it's take your choice. Dean Nash had been given the charge to close the school shortly after he took the position of Dean after the retirement of Dean Bordine--maybe another reason."
"There are several reasons why the school closed but it was never clear just which one(s) was/were primary. At the time of the closing, much research was being done in the public schools especially in science and some thought that would be more sound research for public school application. At the time of the closing, CMU was paying $50 per student to supervising teachers in the public schools to be a supervisor. Each teacher in the lab school had 3 student teachers in the morning and 3 in the afternoon for 6 in total and was receiving more than that $300 (6x$50) in salary per semester meaning money could be saved by having student teachers work in the public schools. Some thought doing such would be a more realistic [experience] than in the lab school. At the time CMU closed, all parallel lab schools in Michigan were closed with the high schools at UM/WMU/EMU being phased out. Of course, at this same time Ball State and other universities were building "lab schools" suggesting those institutions still saw a role for such schools. I believe, even today, several remain. We in the lab school wondered if another reason was related to how the elementary departmental staff did or did not use the classrooms for demonstrations or research. When I first started, my elementary music methods class was schedule for 8:00am prior to the school being open. I felt it would be better to have that class at 9:00 so I could demonstrate to my students or have my students attempt methods we were talking about in class. We moved the methods class and did do some with the students. I think any or all of these reasons could be combined for another reason(s) for closing. This also was a time CMU was under the microscope by the state legislature for possible malfeasance. So, I guess it's take your choice. Dean Nash had been given the charge to close the school shortly after he took the position of Dean after the retirement of Dean Bordine--maybe another reason."
