Sunday, April 25, 2010

Teachers and Pediatricians

Doyle:

Teachers with a decade or two under their belts make far more per hour than I did as a pediatrician. Most do not have 6 figure debt at graduation, and their apprenticeship was a mere 17 weeks, not several years.

I went into pediatrics because I enjoyed working with kids, and I worked in the projects because that was where I was needed.

I presume you teach because you enjoy working with kids, and I hope you feel like you're doing something useful.

Yes, if you're going to get into an argument about whether we need more "ambitious" personalities getting into teaching, it is worth remembering that other professionals (doctors, laywers) who serve the poor aren't the ambitious ones either. I guess what is unusual about teachers is that in many cases -- particularly private schools -- the teachers of the wealthy aren't any better off than the teachers of the poor. No wonder it strikes financiers as a messed up system.

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