Many education programs will have a written portion of the application where an applicant talks about their background and experiences and how they would be an asset in their career as a teacher. That is combined with grades to determine who is offered a spot. That seems like a far better system to me.
If someone can explain why their particular background would aid their teaching career and the education system, then it's a great idea to give that a lot of weight along with grades. And given that you need at least 3 years of post secondary education to even get into the education program at that university, I don't think it's too much to expect any worthy applicant to be able to articulate that as opposed to simply checking a box. And if you don't feel your student body is diverse enough then you can have your selection committee place more emphasis on the written portion, but to just have a quota seems exceptionally lazy to me.
|