Do I need a degree in education to become a teacher?

In the US, for grades 12 and under you must have an educational degree. You can substitute in some districts with a Bachelor degree in any area.

An education major isn't necessary (but in some states you must major in the field you want to teach for HS teaching). You will, however, need to take some education courses to earn your certification.

My undergrad institution didn't have any education majors because it's a dead end degree everywhere except in the school system (it's not really marketable anywhere but in schools). They did have lots of education coursework so that someone such as yourself could take a "real" major but still complete all the state requirements for certification.

In California, you can't get credentialed as a teacher without an extra year of school, anyway. So there isn't really much of a point in having an education major in CA.

What you should is major in english. This will make you a better teacher anyhow because your coursework will have more depth than if you had only been an ed major. That will make you much more marketable in a poor economy anyway.

if you want to teach english then majoring in english would be just fine...when you do become a teacher the school will put you in a credential program so you can learn the ways/techniques to become a better teacher so you can learn how to connect with students better

You must do some kind of education training. But that can be post grad ie get a masters in education. You will earn more with a masters as well.

Thanks

Bill