I can say from my own undergrad experience that education majors tend to go for that degree b/c it’s usually one of, if not the, easiest degree programs. My roommate’s girlfriend (now wife < shudder >) was a complete raging moron in every measurable and subjective way. She was an education major and graduated, no problem! She’s now teaching the next generation at the elementary/middle school level. Horrifying.
Her face is what always comes into my mind when I think about why we’re homeschooling our kids.
I'd not FWIW that a degree in "Education" won't likely get you hired in private schools.
So the system is kind of rotten from the source. I have a friend who looked into going back to school at a university in Chicago and found the curriculum ridiculously easy. Plus there were time-wasting courses like a physical education requirement. One of the PE classes was fishing. And you never actually went fishing, but just studied about it.
I have had good teachers (back in ancient times) and my kids have had good teachers. My wife’s family has a lot of teachers and, from knowing them, I figure they are some of the good ones. But I also know about the deadwood ones. I’ll grant that teaching is or at least can be hard work. Since there is so much talk these days about education reform, maybe there should be more of a focus on college education programs and certification requirements, so they would be challenging enough to purge out the slackers right at the source, and maybe assure better-quality people entering the profession.