This is a point I've made over and over again -- we live in a society that does not value education, period. We might pay lip service to the work teachers do, but at the same time, Americans tend to look down on teaching as a profession for "nice" people without a lot of ambition. They're not respected by students, by parents, by school administrators, or by the culture at large, and teachers are frequently used as convenient scapegoats for a whole range of societal failures. No wonder good people decide not to stay.

I left teaching after two years.

It was one of the worse jobs I ever had.

Have you seen this video by Taylor Mali, "What Teachers Make"? One of my favorites.

I like that video too