The language attitudes of a brand new English teacher are narrated, and the responsibility of a college English department in preparing teachers is discussed. Attitudes toward language and language teaching are shaped through information, personal experience, observations, formal and informal comments by those who have prestige to the reader or listener. A study conducted by use of a 100-item Language Inquiry, comparing responses of several groups of English majors (recent graduates, college seniors, and English teachers in junior and senior high schools) with responses of linguists showed that the teachers were closer to the responses of the linguists than were any of the other groups. Teacher education curricula for prospective English teachers should be reevaluated constantly as to what language background is required by the secondary school teacher. (CK)