Why would you want to be a teacher?

“Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well.” 
― Aristotle

Things have changed a bit since Aristotle's day. 

When I consider some of my peers who have not only graduated with a degree in education, but have successfully found teaching jobs, I shudder at the thought that they will be shaping our future generations. More often than not, they were lackluster students in high school who struggled to grasp even simple concepts.*

My first reaction is to wonder who in their right mind would hire them as teachers. Surely there are more qualified candidates.

Then it occurred to me: what if there aren't?

Here's the unpleasant truth: smart people don't want to be teachers.

It makes sense. A high school chemistry teacher earns, on average, $57,770 a year (and that's the average- the lowest paid high school teachers make only about $36,000 a year). Compare that to chemists, who make on average $76,870 a year.

That's nearly a $20,000 difference (for those of you who did not have good math teachers). With the rare exception of the individual motivated by the altruistic desire to educate young minds, someone who has the ability to be a chemist will choose to go work as a chemist rather than teach chemistry. But isn't this exactly the person we need to be a teacher? Don't we want our children to be educated by teachers who actually know what they're doing?

It's common knowledge that our education system is failing. Legislators grasp for solutions, none of which ever seem to make any difference- such as merit pay systems and more rigorous standardized testing.  Meanwhile, American students continue to fall behind their peers in other parts of the world, raising significant concerns about America's ability to compete in an increasingly global economy. 

If we want to fix the education system, we need to find ways to attract more bright minds to the teaching profession, particularly in public schools (about 90.6% of students attend public schools). This could be accomplished not only by better pay, but also (ironically) by removing or at least reducing programs intended to improve the system, such as merit pay and standardized testing. Many teachers express extreme dissatisfaction with these programs- this February a group of teachers in Seattle even boycotted their state's standardized test, and merit pay systems have been called "demoralizing."

Until we change the system, we will perpetuate the cycle of unqualified teachers churning out under-educated pupils, who graduate unable to compete with their foreign counterparts in a global economy.

What would Aristotle say?

*Of course, there are exceptions. I know several aspiring educators who will make excellent teachers.