Accountability proponents have been so preoccupied with "how" to secure compliance that they have scarcely paused to consider the educational worth of the full range of academic subjects for all students. The framers of national standards in U.S. history, for example, fail to raise as even a possibility that multiple years of required history courses in both elementary and secondary education may not be ideal for each and every student. But even in an era of accountability, educating the gatekeepers is properly the cornerstone of teacher education. This paper advances a view of teacher education rooted in the pedagogical demands of subject matter. It argues that accountability measures such as learning standards and teacher testing are indirect and feeble means of enhancing teacher competence in subject matter and method. Contains 14 references. (BT)