alternative paths to teaching

My grandma loves to send me articles from the newspaper or magazines that she thinks I'll be interested.  I just got a new one in the mail today, about how alternative paths to the teaching profession are gaining ground, mainly mentioning Teach for America.  The New York State Board of Regents is deciding whether to allow TFA to create a master's program, which the article states would make traditional education schools "extraneous."

My view: go ahead and let the TFA make a master's program as long as it meets certain requirements, like time in the classroom.  I think having that option will make education programs really self-assess and hopefully become better.  Gma told me that her education program (in the 60s) was full of fluff, just like I feel mine is now.  I want to know more about how to teach to diverse students, not the fact that diversity exists.  I want to know how to connect activities to different types of content, not just how to do the activity once.  I want to know more about the psych of my students and how it changes from middle school to high school.  I want to know where to expect my students to be academically if I'm teaching 6th grade and where they should be if I'm teaching 12th.  I want to know more about technology, how to use it, and how to incorporate it into my classroom.  I want to know how to teach someone to read, and when they're struggling at their grade level, how do I help bring them up to where they should be.  It drives me nuts that I feel like I need to learn all that on my own.  So if the Regents allow TFA to make a masters program, I hope that it will be the catalyst to make traditional schools for teachers better.