Fall Conference Keynote Address Features MSU Professor

Daniel Kruger

"Do you know where the biggest room in the world is?" asked WEAC Fall Conference keynote speaker Daniel Kruger.

The crowd of 600 conference participants fell silent.

"It's the room for improvement," Kruger said. "And that's our job: To bring improvement to help our students become productive members of society."

Kruger, 78, is a professor of labor relations at Michigan State University. His teaching career has spanned five decades, and he estimates that he's instructed more than 10,000 students.

His address kicked off the October 4-6 Fall Conference, held at the Midwest Express Center in downtown Milwaukee.

"There are two critical aims for educators," Kruger said. "One is to prepare students for citizenship of their communities, state, nation and world. The other is to prepare young people to become productive participants in the world of work.

"That's no small achievement."

Complicating matters is the fact that educators work in a complex system of change, he said. They must do their jobs amid economic, technological, and social changes.

In return, Kruger said that society must provide four things to teachers: competitive salaries, necessary supplies, safe working environments and professional development.

Until teachers have what society owes them, we will suffer from a quality gap between where we are today and where we want to be, Kruger said.

Posted October 10, 2002