Statements like this make me rage a bit; students have to put up with non-technical teachers in part because precious few people in the high-tech sector can be moved to do teaching work in their community.
That's because a) there's no reward for excellence or penalty for failure in teaching (see the list of articles I compiled here: http://jseliger.com/2009/11/12/susan-engel-doesnt-get/ for more on that subject) and b) standardized contracts mean that high-tech people who want to teach aren't going to be subtly underpaid -- they're going to be vastly underpaid. Notice the data from Payscale.com here: http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/degrees.asp .
I actually thought about being a high school teacher. In Seattle, where I lived, teachers with an M.A. made ~$36K / year and got lockstep pay raises to the point where they'd make around $65K / year after 30 years. You get summer and winter break off, so you can effectively multiply that by 1.2.
Google, Microsoft, and other big tech companies start superstars in the neighborhood of $75 – $100K and go up from there. The possibility of starting your own company is there.
That's why competent technical people seldom work in schools. It isn't "our fault" so much as it is the fault of some combination of voters, teachers' unions, and school districts.
That's because a) there's no reward for excellence or penalty for failure in teaching (see the list of articles I compiled here: http://jseliger.com/2009/11/12/susan-engel-doesnt-get/ for more on that subject) and b) standardized contracts mean that high-tech people who want to teach aren't going to be subtly underpaid -- they're going to be vastly underpaid. Notice the data from Payscale.com here: http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/degrees.asp .
I actually thought about being a high school teacher. In Seattle, where I lived, teachers with an M.A. made ~$36K / year and got lockstep pay raises to the point where they'd make around $65K / year after 30 years. You get summer and winter break off, so you can effectively multiply that by 1.2.
Google, Microsoft, and other big tech companies start superstars in the neighborhood of $75 – $100K and go up from there. The possibility of starting your own company is there.
That's why competent technical people seldom work in schools. It isn't "our fault" so much as it is the fault of some combination of voters, teachers' unions, and school districts.