That's a pretty broad brush you're painting with there. You should know that my father is a public school math teacher... and he was a math minor in college... and every few years he takes more summer classes to keep his skills current... and in fact the rest of my immediate family (all of them!) were "Ed Majors" and are now teachers too... and my brother has taught the "Math for Ed Majors" class... and is the head of the math department... Won't even go into how many aunts/uncles/cousins/grandparents are/were teachers too... Many teachers do specialize in the subject they teach.
</rant>
I know, only 90% of the ed majors I know were morons. The other ten percent were bright, inspired, and wanted to make a difference.
Unfortunately, the 10% can't quite make up for the rest.
Oh, and I honestly believe that teachers should not be allowed to teach in a subject where they haven't earned, say, the equivalent of a minor. Football coaches teaching math is a very bad idea. And if they'd make them take a few less ed classes, and a few more in their area, that would be good.
I knew one girl who was getting an ed degree with a math and a Spanish minor, because that's what she wanted to teach. She'll be brilliant, wherever she is. But most of them bragged about how easy their ed classes were... and how many nights they were out partying.
You are very right about this. Most of my family are educators too. I always thought to avoid the profession - don't know what happened.
I have found at this college how the bad raps come too though. We have 5 math instructors on staff. 4 are top notch. One is of the nature described as "only the education major." Because of that one, the entire math department is the butt of many snide remarks. Sad really. I can tell by looking at a transcript which students had that *one* teacher and will do horribly in my classes. The other instructors will have prepared the students well for what they need for my classes.