Schools of Education Require Little Writing -- Huh?

I find this very troubling.

Business people and schoolteachers build their vocations around words. But at some colleges, it is possible to earn a four-year undergraduate degree in business or education without ever doing much writing.

According to a Chronicle analysis of 10 public four-year institutions in Texas, business majors and education majors are typically exposed to only a handful of writing-intensive courses—fewer than five out of the 40 or so courses needed for a degree, on average, for business majors, and fewer than eight courses for education majors. By contrast, history majors typically take 14 courses that require 10 or more pages of writing.

. . . business and education majors reported that they study significantly fewer hours each week than other undergraduates. (On average, business majors said they studied 9.55 hours per week outside the classroom, and education majors said they studied 10.64 hours. The average for the entire pool of students in the study was 12.15 hours.)

Ms. Roksa says that it is costly for business and education majors—or any other college student—not to have extensive exposure to the kind of long writing assignments that build critical-thinking skills.

"Do we want teachers, for example, to know pedagogical theory but not to know how to think and analyze?" Ms. Roksa asked. "How much is it worth to have the subject-specific knowledge but not to have the critical-thinking skills that allow you to analyze and apply that knowledge?

I'm sorry but education majors should study more than other majors. What's more, they should want to study more. It shouldn't be a requirement, it should be a choice. I don't want a teacher who slacked off in college -- who doesn't see joy in the very act of learning -- anywhere near my child.

Is there a way we can put pressure on college's of education to increase writing requirements? If we want to raise respect for the profession we have to make sure people in the profession are worthy of it. It seems to be such an obvious requirement. Who was it this weekend who wanted to redo the curriculum at these colleges? Donna? Andrea? I can't remember, but it might be worth figuring out how to put the screws to these departments. These people make us all look bad.