<p>My daughter wants to be a high schoool enlgish teacher. She would like to major in english in college and then get her masters in Education. After reading some of the posts of the forums it seems as though a lot of people don't think an english major is the way to go. Any other suggestions or should she stick with english as her major. Graduation from college is a long way off but she might do teacher for america after getting her bachelors degree and they do NOT want education majors but an english major would be fine. </p>
<p>One does not normally major in education to become anything but an elementary school teacher.</p>
<p>The simplest path to becoming an English teacher is to major in English in a department that has a secondary ed program. This is not a separate major; it just ensures that all the state-mandated courses are offered, and that (usually) an advisor who knows the system is available. A curriculum of education courses must also be taken, and usually the gen ed requirements are a little more (or specific) than a regular student’s gen ed requirements. That stuff depends on the state.</p>
<p>There will be pre-teaching and student teaching hours, so it’s important that the university has excellent ties with nearby schools. You don’t want the ed people saying, “Oh, yeah. We had an English major 10-12 years ago. I’m sure we can work it out . . .”</p>
<p>It’s possible to complete the whole curriculum without majoring in English, but your D would be as busy as a triple major. It’s also possible to get certificated as a masters student, but you’d still need to meet a lot of English requirements just to apply to such a program.</p>
<p>I’m going to grad school for English teacher education and when I was applying to programs, they all seemed to expect that I majored in English. If not that, they accepted a somewhat equivalent program (linguistics, comp lit) but you still had to take certain courses- American Lit, British Lit, etc. I think it’s so much easier to just go with English. That way you make sure you have all your bases covered. I’ve never heard of a grad school looking down on a prospective English teacher because she majored in English. </p>
<p>If your question is between English and Education, then my answer stays the same. Most people do NOT major in Education to teach high school. Save that for grad.</p>
<p>Hopefully you and you daughter have already researched the job marker for High School teachers. It’s insanely competitive these days. A masters is the minimum needed to be competitive, so make sure she stays the course. Keep this in mind, EVERYONE else will also have a masters, so what will separate your daughter form the other 100/1 applicants looking to teach the subject she is trying to teach? And yes, there is on average 100 applicants per teaching position in the US right now. </p>
<p>My advice, stay in school and aim for the Phd. It’s a few more years, but in the end, you’ll have a much stronger appeal to High Schools she really wants to teach at. Also, she should continue to major in the subject she wants to teach. Good luck!</p>
<p>To make herself more marketable, it might be a good idea for your daughter to major in Education with an English concentration and to find a minor. Depending on what state you live in, it’s not necessary to major in the topic you plan on teaching. As long as you earn a certain number of credits in that area, you can take the Praxis and become certified to teach it.
Some of my high school teachers admitted they didn’t major in the subject they taught. My Spanish teacher had a French major and a Spanish minor and my Chemistry teacher majored in Physics, but was able to teach Chemistry, Biology, and History. </p>
<p>While it’s not necessary to major in Education to be a teacher, it’s recommended. I started college with a Secondary Education major with a Social Studies concentration and French minor. Personally, I find it more helpful to be an education major because you are required to take classes that help you form a teaching technique and are more job-related than the alternative. It was taking education courses that allowed me to realize that teaching was not my true passion.</p>