That’s not actually true. Harvard and Stanford, for example, offer teacher training programs through their graduate schools of education. Just because they don’t offer an undergraduate major in education doesn’t mean they don’t have any interest in teacher training. They just believe in a different model of teacher training (one that is increasingly endorsed by the states, with many state universities now having five-year BA/MAT programs as the preferred mode).
Most elite schools also don’t offer undergraduate courses of study specifically aimed at producing bankers or non-profit administrators (two fields a lot of their grads end up in). Why would education be any different?
Not to mention Teachers College, one of the best-known high-quality colleges of education in the country—and a constituent part of Columbia University.
Yeah, when I was applying to school for teaching I was looking at Harvard, UPenn, Columbia, and Brandeis (for whatever that last one is worth). In the states I’m looking to teach, at least, you should have a master’s, so a lot of schools expect you to major in the subject you want to teach, and then go on for a master’s in secondary education.
A related problem is the bar to entry to the teaching profession for people who are masters in their fields but lack teacher training. My kid attended a magnet arts high school where accomplished musicians, actors, and artists had to jump through hoops to get the credentials. That’s too bad since mastery of the material being taught is one of the best predictors of teaching effectiveness. Mentoring and practice is also better training than sitting in an education class.
Teach for America gets part of this right. What’s wrong is they ask for only a two-year commitment.
since TFA is for troubled schools in challenging districts, and since training is only five weeks long, it’s a wonder that participants even last two years.
Of course the troubled schools need experienced teachers, who will stay, to really make a difference.
The only valid answer is if one wants to attend at Ivy’s, go for it, if one does not care (like my D.), then they will have much easier and pleasing application cycle. In both cases, outsiders do not care, we at CC do not care, just a personal decision based on personal preferences. There are also people out there who are taking tons of student loans with no intention to ever re-pay. So, they are free to screw up there credit score, again, why do we care, although taxpayer is paying interest on these, but this is thanks to moving the whole system into public domain from the private domain where it belong. Private companies are in better position to collect past dues than govenrment, but it is totally different discusiion.