[pezezin]

A few years ago, I tried teaching for a couple years. Something that struck me was that to teach at the elementary or high school level you need specific degrees, but to teach at a university you don't. There is this thinking that because you have a PhD you can teach, which is very far from the truth. Being a good communicator is a skill in itself.

[cess11]

Where I live you study pedagogy and practice it while doing your PhD. If you suck at it you can still pass, but at least they take a shot at teaching it to you. When applying for positions your record on teaching might make it harder to get to those where you're expected to do it regularly.

The usual nepotism, corruption and fraud in academia will of course allow some bad teachers to advance anyway.

[pezezin]

That sounds good, wish more places did like that.

[vkou]

> Something that struck me was that to teach at the elementary or high school level you need specific degrees, but to teach at a university you don't

So, the thing about elementary and high school is that everyone goes to it, but only people who are good at studying go to university.

Given that the students are highly selected in the latter, you can get away with much worse instruction.

[denton-scratch]

> only people who are good at studying go to university.

I think this is arse over elbow; the purpose of an undergraduate degree course is to teach you to study and do research. The "research" done by undergraduates isn't novel research; the student repeats "research" that has been done by generations of students before them. I.e., it's practice.

For this reason, writing undergraduate essays felt to me like being an impostor; you try to write in the manner of a researcher, knowing that you're faking it.