[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.