<p>This is related to college majors, but the reason I'm posting it here is because it will affect what colleges I apply to and ultimately select.</p>
<p>I'm fairly certain that I want to go into education. Not 100% but pretty sure. I'm not sure if this will be through teaching, private tutoring, working at summer camps, or what exactly. My confusion is over whether I should go to a college where I could major in Education or Child Development or whether I should major in English (or a more general subject) to keep my options open further (because I may want to go into a different field upon graduation). </p>
<p>My first choice school is USC. No, I will not put all my eggs in that basket, but it is ideal for me in many ways. However, it does not offer an Education or Child Development major. It does have a great English department though.</p>
<p>You don’t need to choose, because most states now require teachers to major in a classroom subject (i.e. English, Math, Biology) in addition to having coursework in Education (rarely a stand-alone undergraduate major anymore). So you’ll essentially be double majoring in English and Education together. </p>
<p>USC offers a one-year MAT program (master of arts in teaching) open to those who already have an undergraduate BA or BS. </p>
<p>Many universities offer 5-year combined BA/MA programs for teaching. Even at the undergraduate level it’s often a de facto 5-year program anyway, as to finish in four years (including student teaching), a student must take classes in the summer as well as fall and spring semesters.</p>
<p>If you want to teach English (particularly at the high school level), then you have two basic options: 1. major in English and then enter a MA or MAT program for your teaching credentials; 2. major in English, but complete the teacher certification requirements as an undergrad in addition to the requirements for an English major. Many English departments offer a subtrack in their major requirements that is geared toward persons who want to teach English. Which option you choose depends in part on the state teacher certification requirements in the states where you want to teach. If you decide not to teach English, you can still pursue the several other options open to English majors. For some private schools, you might not need all the teacher education coursework.</p>
<p>The above reply assumes you are interested in teaching English. If, however, you meant that you are considering English because you might decide to go into a field other than education, then you might not want to major in a program that primarily prepares you as a teacher. In that case, English or another field probably would be a better choice.</p>
<p>Since your post isn’t entirely clear about whether you wanted to teach English, a lot depends on what area of education you had in mind. Teaching English, or another academic subject, isn’t the only area for which people major in education. There is special education, corporate training, instructional design, etc. If you are not sure that you want to go into education, you can decide later since you often can enter graduate programs in those areas without an undergrad major in education. At the graduate level, additional education-related areas are available, e.g., counseling, school psychology, education policy, etc.</p>
<p>Child development often focuses on early child education. Child development also can be a subfield of psychology. In it’s applied aspects, it’s often taught in colleges of human ecology (aka family & consumer sciences aka home economics) as well as colleges of education.</p>