Some teachers are paid very well, it depends on the district really. When I lived in upstate NY, I remember hearing that a few of the teachers in my school district made almost 100k, which is terrific for the cost of living in that region.
And there are a lot of reasons other than financial, that people choose to become teachers.
From my observations on decent school systems (I haven't seen the TED speech yet), the biggest feature of schoolteachers is complacency. It's not that they aren't intelligent, it's that they aren't ambitious. People go into teaching in order to have a safe, comfortable, predictable career path. And in many cases that's what it is, and the result is that teachers wind up living in a different reality.
No, actually, I wasn't thinking about that article, though it's a pretty good one. I was thinking about a much smaller, suburban district and the average there is probably closer to $50k.
And yes, starting salaries are much lower-- as they are for most graduates in most other industries.
I wasn't arguing that being a teacher is going to get you rich. But at least in NY, one makes enough to live comfortably. If you can handle dealing with kids on a daily basis, it isn't a bad career choice at all. Of course, NY State's public schools have a good reputation.
And there are a lot of reasons other than financial, that people choose to become teachers.
From my observations on decent school systems (I haven't seen the TED speech yet), the biggest feature of schoolteachers is complacency. It's not that they aren't intelligent, it's that they aren't ambitious. People go into teaching in order to have a safe, comfortable, predictable career path. And in many cases that's what it is, and the result is that teachers wind up living in a different reality.