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Same here in a different sense. My best professors in school were adjunct professors who had actual jobs and came in to teach one class on the side. Not only did they know, as you said, what knowledge was applicable out in the real world, but they all had interesting stories about their jobs that actually gave meaning to all the learning we were doing. The worst professors I had were usually career professors.

This article brings up a discussion I continually have with my mom (who is a professor of education, but a brilliant, conservative, highly dedicated, and extremely experienced one who does it for the love of teaching not for status). My position is that teaching should by design be a career option only after you've gone out and done something else in the world. Just because you've taken four years of college classes and done a semester of student teaching doesn't mean you actually know enough in life to be competent to be a teacher. You just have book knowledge, no real world experience.

She argues with me, because she went directly into teaching out of undergrad, but she taught elementary kids where specific topical experience isn't as necessary. For middle school and especially high school, I don't think you should be able to teach a subject without having used that specific knowledge somewhere in some job previously. She agrees with me there mostly. If the educational system were opened up to the free market, I think we'd see a shift towards this naturally.

The most amazing, infuriating, and ironic example of all this is that my mom spent years in schools teaching kids before she got her doctorette in education while most of the people in her department went straight on through school and have never set foot in a classroom. They write utterly worthless research papers and are tenured; she is not, but was rated the second best professor in a school of 35,000. Guess who gets the department respect and accolades, though. I'd abolish all education programs for middle school and high school teachers, and just let a real job be their teacher certification.

Actually, my favorite professor taught only one economics class two days a week. The rest of the week he was at his real job.

My wife teaches high school, but it is more by accident than anything else. She got a double major in violin performance and illustration (yeah, I know, music and art?). When she graduated her uncle mentioned an art teacher opening at the best high school in the area. She took in her portfolio and they hired her with the condition that she got her master’s degree in education.

She never did any “how to teach” classes until her master’s, but she’s more qualified to teach art than the two other art teachers already at the school. I think having the skill trumps having the degree. Thankfully she’s not a liberal artist nor musician.

She thought it was sweet that I wanted to listen to her play and see her artwork when we first started dating. She had never had a boyfriend who was interested in her work. She later found out that I was just seeing if she had skill or if she was just another hack artist. I wouldn’t date one of those, but she passed the test!

This article brings up a discussion I continually have with my mom (who is a professor of education, but a brilliant, conservative, highly dedicated, and extremely experienced one who does it for the love of teaching not for status). My position is that teaching should by design be a career option only after you've gone out and done something else in the world. Just because you've taken four years of college classes and done a semester of student teaching doesn't mean you actually know enough in life to be competent to be a teacher. You just have book knowledge, no real world experience.
She argues with me, because she went directly into teaching out of undergrad, but she taught elementary kids where specific topical experience isn't as necessary.

. . .my mom spent years in schools teaching kids before she got her doctorette in education while most of the people in her department went straight on through school and have never set foot in a classroom. They write utterly worthless research papers and are tenured; she is not, but was rated the second best professor in a school of 35,000.

The irony being that, from the POV of teaching teachers, experience at teaching elementary school is itself the experience base you would want, by your own theory, to require.