No sooner do I say I’m going on hiatus than I have an interesting, if brief, conversation in the comments over at Crooked Timber about the value of teacher training for people who have earned their Ph.D in English. This was started with a post by Michael Bérubé about the job market (and lack thereof) for English docs. I wish I’d taken more care with my tone (important lesson, kids: always assume others in a conversation are discussing/arguing in good faith!), but I hope to take a little time to expand on some of what was said. It would be great if we could find a way to let those who have a love of literature come into the classroom with some teacher training without forcing them into a long program, if that could be done in a way that doesn’t mean any schmoe with an advanced degree  can float into the classroom with no understanding of or care about the kids they’ll be teaching.