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Notes -
There are alternative certification programs that allow people who already hold a random bachelor's degree to to become teachers without going back to school for two years. I myself did the online, self-paced American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence (ABCTE) program and found a position that way.
Alternatively, I could have gone to a local community college and completed their one-year, two-semester Educator Preparation Institute (EPI) program, but that would have been more expensive (I got the ABCTE program on sale for $1550, while 21 credits for seven courses would have come out to about $2500) and involved more work (ABCTE only required two high-stakes tests, one for the subject area and the other for pedagogy). Admittedly, the EPI programs include student teaching, while ABCTE does not. I was worried that the lack of field experience would hurt me, but I got an offer anyway.
I am aware -- two years seems like way to much of a barrier for somebody considering teaching as a fallback career. (I think there used to be a similar one year option in my jurisdiction, but it was eliminated by 'big teacher' or something. Ironically due to covid they were prepared to waive any of these requirements due to extreme shortages -- but you were capped at the bottom of the salary scale (like ~40k) and would be fired once the crisis resolved. So they definitely weren't attracting 'smart' people of any kind there.)
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