Dr. Lester M. Emans: The Educational Transformation of Teachers in Eau Claire in the 1950s and 60s

Abstract

The education of teachers is a study that does not receive enough attention in terms of historical and philosophical studies. Thus, in this paper the author will identify the shaping of pre-service education for teachers and note the large transformation of education in the 1950s and 1960s. The author will focus on Lester Emans, who was a crucial supporter and promoter of advancing education for teachers in training. Emans effort helped to transform the educational department at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Emans enhanced the standards within the curriculum taught at the University by implementing a lab school on campus, improving Wisconsin's values of teaching, restructuring the secondary education department and enhancing the student teaching program at Eau Claire. His determinations to develop the educational system for future teachers has proven, in more ways than one, beneficial to the education department at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and still resonates today.