This research addresses lack of student teaching preparation. There is strong evidence that beginning teachers are not trained to adequately teach students due to their lack of preparation/content knowledge. The purpose of this study is to examine the experience of beginning teachers to try to understand why student teachers are not prepared for the 21st century class. It also addresses how to improve the student teaching experience at all levels of teacher preparation in the elementary, middle, and high school settings. The literature revealed key findings which included the following: teacher preparation institutions need to transform their programs to reflect the realities of 21st century schools, pre-service teachers should be exposed to the intense work of the typical classroom teacher over a much longer period of time, and colleges need to ensure that cooperating teachers are models of best practice. This study takes the qualitative approach, using interview protocol. Participants included an elementary school teacher in Northern California, and one student teacher enrolled in an undergraduate program in teacher preparation at a private university in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Also a superintendent of a local school district in Dayton, Ohio participated in the study. A university professor involved in teacher education was also interviewed for this study. Results indicated that more time in the classroom would result in an improved level of a teacher's confidence. Coursework at the university level needs to parallel the same content learning in the K-12 school. Finally, an individual's personality is a strong factor in success in teaching. A teacher with superior content knowledge goes unnoticed without an engaging personality. The following are appended: (1) Questions for Student Teachers; and (2) Questions for the University Professor, School Superintendent and Physical Education Teacher.