Who is teaching your children?

I am reminded of a story that changed my perspective on life. Let me be clear that I am not singling any one person out, but rather telling a story that gave me food for thought. It was told to me by my high school AP Chemistry teacher, Mr. Townley. He was a man statistics. He loved statistics. And one statistic he always beat down on us was average starting pay.

Surprise, surprise, teachers at public schools made the least amount of money. Heck, a high school graduate starting out at the post office made more money than a starting teacher in Arkansas.

Then he turned to the class. How many of wanted to be teachers? None. That makes sense because we’re going to be the doctors and engineers of the world. Why would we want to make $25,000 to start out when we could easily make double that? The top five percent of your class is naturally going to gravitate towards high paying jobs that suit their abilities.

Part of it is that teachers only work nine months out of the year. My AP biology teacher always said he had three reasons for becoming a teacher.
1. June
2. July
3. August

But let me ask you something, Mr. Townley says. Who do you want to be teaching your children? If your most talented people are elsewhere, who is left? The number of people who go against the grain are few and far between.

As the baby boom generation retires, who is replacing them? Just as important, who do you want to be replacing them?

And somehow I knew at that moment I would teach high school.