To teach in the public school system within the United States, you must have a bachelor's degree in an education program, with state teachers certification. This takes approximately four years as a full-time student provided the student takes the degree as prescribed by the college or university.
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Most states require primary and secondary school teachers to have a teacher's license issued by the state. Generally, this requires the completion of a Bachelor of Science in Education degree from a state-certified college or university within the state. Some states have "reciprocal" licensing, meaning that they'll also accept licenses from certain other (usually neighboring) states, and most states will allow students with out-of-state degrees to complete additional coursework ("History of X", where X is the state in question, is a common requirement) in order to obtain a license.
College and university teachers don't have to have a license. Instead, a postgraduate degree, generally a doctorate, is usually required. Also, private schools are usually exempt from the licensing requirements, though high schools that choose to exercise this exemption may not be allowed to award state-approved "diplomas" to their graduating students, instead usually granting "certificates of completion" (which have no real legal merit, and aren't usually accepted by colleges or universities). Students from such a school who wish to be considered "high school graduates" must obtain a GED instead.