In this commentary, William J. Hunter reflects on this career, and struggles with the fact that teacher preparation programs do not include a course in educational research. When this was mentioned to colleagues (or students), a highly predictable response was "Why should teacher candidates learn about research?" Years of trying to give a calm and rational response to that question, brought answers and raised additional questions like: (1) Why should medical students learn about medical research? (2) Why should nursing students learn about health science research? (3) Why should law students learn about legal research? And (4) Why should engineering students learn about engineering research? Just as research in the basic sciences and the development of tools like thermometers, stethoscopes, and sphygmomanometers created opportunities for the growth of research-based medicine, teachers should have the knowledge and skills needed to critically read the education and social science literature on teaching and learning. Action research has been on the leading edge of a move toward introducing research to teacher education programs in Canada often in the context of reflection on practice. Hunter concludes, as we look further into the 21st century, teacher educators should be building the basis for a new teaching profession in which classroom teachers, using the online resources available to them, begin to plan their lessons based on the existing research in education, the humanities, and the social sciences. What is the missing link to educational research? Hunter notes it is teachers who are "competent to use the instrumentalities that have been developed" and ready to take up the challenge.