Rather than just examine surface problems, a more productive inquiry into social studies teacher education is to examine the structure and internal processes of teacher education. When probing beneath the surface and looking within, teacher educators see three unflattering images: misplaced martyrdom, myth maintenance, and woe-is-meism. Misplaced martyrdom refers to the belief among college and university teacher educators that their success efforts to foster the development of progressive teachers are reversed by the overwhelmingly traditional impact of the school setting and teacher experience. Myth maintenance refers to the idea that teaching is necessarily highly idiosyncratic; there is no professional knowledge on which teaching theory and practice can and should be based. A cruder form is that teaching is simply doing whatever works for you. Woe-is-meism is the self-pity or despair felt when, for example, students do not evidence desired skills or attitudes. Although probing beneath the surface may be discomforting, it can encourage meaningful inquiry and change. Hopefully, these reflections will encourage further examination of the beliefs that form the ideational context of social studies teacher education and shape its particular features and practices. (Author/NE)