Some experts believe schools of education should stress content - more math, more history. USC, like many schools nationwide, now requires education majors also to major in a content area. She said she knows the math required by South Carolina standards, but probably not enough to teach eighth grade. Other experts say more emphasis is needed on the art of teaching and dealing with students. Some students, for example, said they have had no courses in such things as teaching reading or special education.
Classroom management is one of the toughest problems novice teachers face.
She said she had never had any exposure to a school population such as McNair's - mostly poor, mostly black, some with huge behavioral problems. She said she felt absolutely unprepared to cope. Any class I had ever had could never have prepared me for that. They don't tell you how to talk to the kids, to learn about them and what goes on in their lives. Janice Poda, director of the S.C. Teacher Recruitment Center, agreed.