Interview with Historian Eric Foner

This interview with the Pulitzer prize-winning historian, Eric Foner, in the Atlantic covers a number of topical issues, from MOOCs to what it takes to be a good teacher of history. Here is one thing he says about the latter topic:

The number-one thing is, you have to know history to actually teach it. That seems like an obvious point, but sometimes it's ignored in schools. Even more than that, I think it's important that people who are teaching history do have training in history. A lot of times people have education degrees, which have not actually provided them with a lot of training in the subject. They know a lot about methodology. [That’s] important, but as I say, the key thing is really to love the subject, to be able to convey that to your students, and if you can do that, I think you'll be a great teacher.