<p>Why would I want to minor in something? What is the use of a minor? Say I want to become a high school history teacher. Would I major in history or education? Is it like I major in history and minor in education, or something like that? What could I do with a major in history and a minor in political science? Let's say I want to become a university professor of history. How would I go about doing that?</p>
<p>Why? Because it gives you a more comprehensive knowledge of a secondary field. A physics major might minor in computer science, because it’s very important to physics, but not necessarily enough to justify a second major because many aspects of a CS major wouldn’t apply to physics.</p>
<p>The same principle is applicable to just about any field. If you want to be a university history professor, you should major in history.</p>
<p>A lot of people minor in something because they’re interested in it but it doesn’t offer the job prospects they want. It’s virtually unheard of for a minor to make you qualified for any job. If you played in the band all through high school and love music as a hobby, so you could be a music minor. Or you want to be an engineer but you’ve always had a soft spot for books so you minor in English. A minor pretty much says “I have an interest.” </p>
<p>If you want to teach high school history you’d generally major in history. You don’t need to minor in education unless you want some background in it.</p>
<p>That wasn’t silly at all. I’m disappointed.</p>
<p>At its most basic, a minor is recognition that you’ve completed a certain amount of work that counts toward a specialty, and that amount of work is probably no more than half of what you’d have to complete in order to earn a degree in that specialty. For example, if:</p>
<ul>
<li>a degree in physics requires 50 units within a selection of classes</li>
<li>16 of which are in mathematics</li>
<li>those 16 units would also count toward a degree in mathematics</li>
<li>you’d need 24 total units of mathematics to minor in mathematics</li>
<li>you’re interested in mathematics</li>
</ul>
<p>It makes sense to take two more math classes so you can say you minored in mathematics.</p>
<p>To decide if you want to minor in something, see how many of those classes also count toward your major, and ask yourself if you’d find those classes interesting even without the ability to count them toward a minor.</p>
<p>By “count toward your major”, I’m including general education requirements that any degree would require. Try to optimize what you get out of classes – usually there is a huge selection of classes that would count toward any one GE requirement; try to find options that are interesting, maybe options that could count toward a minor you’d like to have.</p>
<p>Sometimes “programs” are only offered as minors. Some states do not allow people to major in education (Virginia) so students must minor in it in an “education program” (and then usually pursue a masters). </p>
<p>Also, people who want to get jobs that require grad degrees (masters +) often have minors to make them appear more competitive for grad schools. (if you want to be a lawyer who has a focus of crime-maybe you would major in criminal justice and minor in English b/c lawyers do a lot of writing)</p>
<p>Minors are sometimes needed.</p>
<p>How can you even major education in the first place?</p>
<p>I don’t even understand why a school would offer a major in “education” to begin with, in all honesty. America is the only country that I’m aware of that even offers such a major.</p>
<p>This is why we have so many teachers in this country that aren’t really experts in their field. If we look at the way Germany’s education system is structured, it seems a lot more efficient. Teachers are actually recruited. The people that are at the tops of their respective fields are sought out, and offered teaching positions…because of their mastery of their fields. Then they take a couple of teaching courses, and become teachers. Germany has one of the best public education systems in the world, and this point is but one reason for that.</p>
<p>If you want to teach history…major in history. If you want to teach math, major in math etc…</p>
<p>I think the idea is that not everyone is a good teacher, and this is particularly relevant at the lower levels (like elementary and middle school). Being the top person in your field does not mean that you should teach (there are many college professors that are perfect examples of this), and I don’t think being an expert in mathematics automatically makes you a great high school algebra teacher. I’m not an education major so I’m not an expert in this, but I would expect education majors to teach students how to teach (and perhaps, to do other things, like plan curriculum, etc). At my school, at least, there is an education studies minor that gives students practical experience in classrooms, in addition to coursework. Students are then able to get a master’s in education in one additional year (rather than the typical two). I think the practical experience in classrooms is useful before being given a classroom of your own.</p>
<p>That’s just the thing though…In principle, it sort of makes sense. But, America has one of the worst public education systems out of all of the developed nations on the planet. Most of the developed countries in Europe have left us waaaay behind…and it’s because they have teachers that actually know their material, rather than teachers here that majored in education, and don’t really know that much about the actual subjects that they teach.</p>
<p>Sure, some people are simply not good teachers. But, in other countries this method has been demonstrated as being very effective. When I say “recruit the people at the tops of their field” it was a bit of a generalization. They look for a lot more than just knowledge of a field…they look for people that are able to effectively convey that specific material. They aren’t “forced” to teach or anything like that…and they still have to take a number of specialized education courses on how to teach. If the person isn’t showing a clear aptitude for it, they don’t continue to teach.</p>
<p>I’m curious … if there were no education majors, what would someone major in who wanted to be an elementary school teacher?</p>
<p>Okay, first off, if you want to teach a subject you have to major in it. High school English=English major, HS Chem teacher=chemistry, elementary education=Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies (this means that they take math, English, science, and history classes about all the things most elementary kids need to learn).</p>
<p>How each teacher gets/ his her license in the state depends on the state.
Some states make you minor in education to try and force more teachers to get masters.</p>
<p>Education classes include a lot of stuff about teaching. In fact, most teachers are doing student-teaching programs (in which they teach/ tutor kids all through college). </p>
<p>For states that allow you to major in education- probably make you DOUBLE major in the subject you want to teach or elementary-which is usually another major. You usually cannot teach something unless you’ve got some kind of degree in it-and education usually does not suffice as a degree in English or math or whatever.</p>
<p>Yes, everyone has had bad teachers-the times this has happened to me the teachers have been people who are highly qualified in their fields but have not obtained any education in how to teach. Often times the best players do not make the best coaches.</p>
<p>Lastly, in those countries where teachers are “recruited”-they get paid a lot more. The US public school system is not really in any state to recruit teachers considering the salaries that they offer.</p>
<p>For reference-I’m an ed. minor that is in a 5 year MAT program. Hope I helped explain everything.</p>
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<p>You can usually major in mostly anything but must have taken a variety of classes across the core subjects-- the programs I’ve looked at want you to have taken two classes each in English, Math, Sciences, and Social Studies/History.</p>
<p>The principal difference between the US system and systems in other countries is the impracticality of standardization of secondary education in the US. There is no one-size-fits-all way to select teachers in the US. Each region is extremely unique and needs to specialize its selection method to its own needs. Also, the current tax code and political paradigm is not conducive to a system that treats teachers as medical professionals. Whose fault that is is simply speculation and opinion. Also, while not denying the merits of the German system and the other European students, many of their systems do not have to deal with students of lesser ability. They track their students. Also, education occurs in a cultural context and, for many in the US, the cultural barriers to education are too great to be overcome by simple governmental education policy</p>