This paper examines recent education and teacher education reforms in the USA and Namibia and analyzes two tensions that have been a central part of debates about teacher quality and teacher education in many parts of the world: whether we should prepare teachers as technicians or as reflective practitioners; and whether we should prepare teachers for teacher-centered or learner-centered instruction. Although the USA and Namibia are very different countries in size, economic development, and in numerous other ways, the authors argue that their national governments, like many others, have chosen to follow similar paths in reforming their K-12 and teacher education systems. Both countries demonstrate an emphasis on the investment of scarce resources in constructing and maintaining elaborate accountability systems by preparing teachers to meet externally prescribed standards to produce good standardized test scores. The paper argues that this approach, tied to a technicist view of teaching and teacher education, is misguided. (Contains 6 notes.)