Any comprehensive scheme of teacher education must confront the fact that the purposes, content, and methods of college liberal arts courses may hold limited relevance to the subject matters of the school curriculum. It has become customary to divide the education of U.S. social studies teachers into two main parts: liberal arts courses and work in education. The old teachers' colleges were organized to address the subject matter demands of teaching, but today, at state universities, responsibility for teacher education is commonly diffused. No one entity is responsible for assuring teachers' proper preparation in the pedagogical demands of subject matter. This paper outlines and discusses some approaches to subject matter education: inservice education through curriculum reform; standard college courses; and subject matter as only one of several important and interdependent elements of teacher education. The paper outlines an alternative approach to subject matter for educating the educators. It should be based on what teachers will be expected to teach, not merely the current interests of academicians. Social studies connects the student's personal experience with disciplinary and other subject matters, and their broader social significance. Educating teachers to bring about this kind of social studies program has been a challenge for teacher educators since the field was first conceived. (Contains 17 references.) (BT)