Teaching! Who Wants It?

       I just read an article in Mother Jones publication online. It mentioned that one half of our teachers will be eligible to retire within the next decade. And yet, state legislatures and governors across the country continue to defund education. Teachers are denigrated, the reputation of the profession is sullied, all in the name of lowering taxes.
       What we need to understand is that teachers are among the most necessary, most important people in the lives of future generations of young people. We seem to treat them more like a useless extra that can be somehow discarded without changing the outcome our country would face.
       Why is it that a bright kid can go on to college and go to work on Wall Street and earn respect and really fat paychecks or go on to that same college and get disrespect and much, much lower wages? Many people seem to think teaching is something that any dummy can do, that it's easy work for people who can't make it in the "real world." These folks don't have any idea what the real world is all about and what's needed to be successful in it.
       Of course most, if not all, of these folks that think that way, can't teach their old children how to respect others. These same folks can't understand why their kids aren't getting a great education, but don't have the time or the interest to get involved. There is one group that is concerned about their kids education, but still want public education to be defunded. These folks most often send their kids to private school where they get a very good education. These folks simply don't care what happens to the rest of society.
       In other countries, teachers are among the most respected in the country, are highly paid and don't quit teaching within the first five years which happens in America. And no wonder our best and brightest students don't want to be teachers, who wants disrespect, poor wages and a life of never knowing when the government will decide they're not wanted.