New Teachers Get Hammered, Don’t They?

There’s an interesting post over at the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Brainstorm blog on when students declare their college majors:

Increasingly, freshmen arrive in my office for advisement already having declared a major. That might make sense for future neurosurgeons, who need to start early on their occupational requirements. It also makes sense, unfortunately, for future high-school teachers, whose entire curriculum is strictly regimented by the state. What surprises me, however, is the first-semester freshman who announces that he or she wants to be a marketing executive or a public-relations consultant or an investment banker. How the heck do they know?

I think this is an important point. Consider, for example, what’s required to get a Bachelor of Arts in Education degree with a Biology emphasis from Eastern Washington University:

*53 credits in biology classes
*22 credits in other support classes, including chemistry and biology
*46 credits in the education program

...for a bare minimum of 121 credits. If you don’t go to school thinking you’re going to be a biology teacher, instead deciding at the end of your sophomore year, then you’re going to be there for a long, long time. Chemistry Education is 122 credits; those pikers over in Earth Science only ask 110. Go over to the math department (remember, we need math teachers!) and you may well be tempted to give up: Elementary Math is 145 credits, Secondary Math 118.

This, I think, is where the push for alternative certification programs comes from.