Those who are in university-based teacher preparation seem to constantly defend the ethos of teacher education, lately in the face of a concerted, organized, well-funded attempt to obviate the need for traditional preparation. For teacher educators who are preparing candidates to be on the front lines of a high-stakes testing battleground, it is easy to be overcome by the delusions of policies that presume that learners are widgets--interchangeable economic products that ebb and flow with the regularity of engine gaskets and blue jeans. In this article, the author briefly addresses three imperatives for civic engagement in teacher education: (1) relevance of the field of teacher education; (2) responsiveness to the changing needs of society; and (3) resoluteness of purpose, including the need for cautious attention to teacher dispositions. (Contains 4 notes.)