It's Not the Money

"Every man has his price," so the saying goes. At one point I was convinced that my price was whatever a lawyer makes. A few years working at various positions in law firms woke me up to the fact that in most cases, a lawyer doesn't make as much as I thought, and if they do, the price is far above what I'm willing to pay. 14-hour days, 6 or 7 days per week -- and you have to be a lawyer? No thanks. No amount of money is worth hardly ever seeing my family and feeling tired and irritable whenever I do. So, I made a conscious decision not to go to law school, and while I've had my share of financial struggles and the occasional feelings of worthlessness that come with long periods of unemployment, I wouldn't trade the time I've spent at home with my family for anything.

Money just isn't a primary motivating factor for me when it comes to choosing a career. If money was enough, I'd simply chose the highest-paying industry and go with that, no matter how difficult the schooling or how miserable the day-to-day routine of the job. It seems I'm not alone. A recent survey ranked the education sector the second-lowest in average pay for 2012. Only my choice of college majors, Humanities and Social Sciences, was lower. 

According to the January 2013 Salary Survey, which is produced three times per year by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the average salary for someone in educational services was $40,668. The highest was the engineering sector at $61,913. Interestingly enough, education also led all other fields in the number of entering graduates with 444,500. So despite the low pay, more college graduates decided to enter the field of education in 2012 than any other.

The best-sounding answer as to why so many people chose to be teachers is probably something to the effect that they genuinely feel the call to serve their fellow man by educating the rising generation, and I don't dispute that is true for the vast majority of teachers. However, as the husband of a teacher myself, I have my own view on the matter. Teacher salary: About $35,00 per year. Every weekend, holiday and summer doing whatever you feel like: Priceless.

Categories: