Though it isn't true in all states, there are onerous requirements for entry in many places. I grew up and went to college in Maryland, and the education program basically takes over your 4-year degree process. Despite enjoying tutoring and student-teaching, I balked for multiple reasons and left the program to get an ordinary BS degree.
Among those reasons were:
- the education department at my college wasted my time one too many times; academic infighting made it unnecessarily difficult to get a good advisor and complete the program
- the expectation for me to pay full-time tuition in my last year even though it would be spent working (without pay)
- seeing my "peers" get Bs and Cs for D- and F-level work in education classes and realizing the standards were way too low
- the excessive dictating of which "electives" I had to take outside of education, which frequently put me in the dump classes where the professors had no respect for the students
- yes, the less-than-stellar pay and benefits (and MD is one of the best states in the country for teacher pay!) and mandatory union membership (pre-SCOTUS ruling against it) that would follow once I jumped through these hoops
- the feeling that, even if I set aside all of these concerns, I would ultimately have no autonomy; I was already seeing that many teachers (including at the college level) just want to coast through their jobs and have not just the curriculum and textbooks but also the assignments, exams, and even daily lectures handed to them by the district, and the same districts not wanting teachers to go off-script for liability reasons too
Obviously, some of these elements were particular to my circumstances and experiences and not required by the state, but the program itself was, and even in better circumstances, it still requires a large commitment of time and money.
Among those reasons were:
- the education department at my college wasted my time one too many times; academic infighting made it unnecessarily difficult to get a good advisor and complete the program
- the expectation for me to pay full-time tuition in my last year even though it would be spent working (without pay)
- seeing my "peers" get Bs and Cs for D- and F-level work in education classes and realizing the standards were way too low
- the excessive dictating of which "electives" I had to take outside of education, which frequently put me in the dump classes where the professors had no respect for the students
- yes, the less-than-stellar pay and benefits (and MD is one of the best states in the country for teacher pay!) and mandatory union membership (pre-SCOTUS ruling against it) that would follow once I jumped through these hoops
- the feeling that, even if I set aside all of these concerns, I would ultimately have no autonomy; I was already seeing that many teachers (including at the college level) just want to coast through their jobs and have not just the curriculum and textbooks but also the assignments, exams, and even daily lectures handed to them by the district, and the same districts not wanting teachers to go off-script for liability reasons too
Obviously, some of these elements were particular to my circumstances and experiences and not required by the state, but the program itself was, and even in better circumstances, it still requires a large commitment of time and money.