ABSTRACT
Across the country today, the university’s role in the preparation of teachers is coming under challenge, driven by a combination of old prejudices and new developments. A number of states already have eliminated major requirements to enter teaching and others are considering such a move. Pressures to relax entry standards long have been present in a nation committed to extending so many years of education to its full populace, because the demand for teachers is so great. The sheer size of the schooling enterprise in America has produced twin related difficulties of attracting and paying for the teacher workforce. And these problems are compounded in locales where working and living conditions are regarded as undesirable-mainly schools in the inner city and in rurally isolated communities.
