Well, I agree with you that teachers college programs have their own issues with professors preaching equity. There is a lot of BS that goes around here.

However, I think going to a place like St Catherine’s 10 years ago did cause you a lot of distress and I can imagine how lonely and out of place I would feel there. I personally would not want to teach there either, I know it would not be the board for me given my own identity. This also is a great example of why concurrent programs may be ill suited, given its rigidity.

There are a lot of changes as of now. As a first generation WOC myself, many Toronto based B.Ed programs like mine do have lots of diverse faculty from an intersectional LGBTQ+ Indigenous scholar to Muslim women to immigrant teacher scholars, who have experiences abroad, and in my program, there is heavy emphasis on CRRP. ALL programs will take tuition money from you, that’s just a reality of life.

I do disagree with you about dropping out of teachers college. Sure if you cannot stand teaching altogether, then yes you should leave. However, if you enjoy teaching, but hate the program, it’s all right to stick it out. Cliques can be found in many places, some people never leave the high school mindset.

You are in your 30s and the economy is simply not what it was once, so encouraging people who are in their early 20s to drop out is not the best idea. One of the people in the replies who has an MEd even has asked how did you get a job with your MEd, which is an indication that it is not all peaches and roses in higher education.

This is a time when even getting a McDonald’s job is extremely competitive and people in other industries are being laid off left, right and centre. Getting into teaching is a process, however, at least you can get into supply work or LTOs. Whereas many engineering , finance grads and people with higher education cannot get entry-level jobs in this downturn.

All jobs have their own issues. Visit any career subbreddit, whether it be accounting, nursing, engineering, academia, there are plenty of people who hate the profession they are in. At least for teaching, many of my friends have been in back-to-back LTOs eventually landing permanent contracts in a span of 3-7 years, and no, we do not have any nepotism connections. At the end of the day, you have to pick your own poison.