Demographics and Teacher Education

Editor's Note: The editorial team of the Journal of Teacher Education asked Professor Hodgkinson to write a brief overview of U.S. demographics and teacher education that would help to introduce this issue of the journal on Demography and Democracy. In a later issue of JTE, a full-length article by Dr. Hodgkinson will explore these issues in more detail. The current article has two functions: first, to review demographic data, particularly from Census 2000; and second, to explore the relevance of this material for education and, more specifically, for teacher education. DEMOGRAPHICS Think of yourself living in the year 1900. The average American was 21 years old; life expectancy was only 47. We cannot imagine the infant mortality rate--in New York…