I know a teacher that takes every prof dev course she can find over the summer, works her tail off during the school year getting activities set up each day, and is always trying to find new things to incorporate into her activities ... her annual budget from the school ... $100. One hundred dollars is all she has each year to pay for science and art supplies. And her salary, don't get me started there either. To top it all off, because she is at a small school, they routinely "press" their teachers into working concessions/gates at sporting events, or even assistant coaching, they have regular bus duty in the morning and afternoon, etc. ALL FOR NO EXTRA PAY!!!!! Now tell me someone who does this year after year after year doesn't love what they do.
However ... there is an increasing number of students who are becoming education majors because frankly it is by far the easiest major to complete in terms of required courses. And the easiest of all are the elementary school teachers who in some cases can completely bypass math and science courses. So the first teachers our young impressionable children see are those that either hate or just plain can't do science and math. And we wonder why there are so many math/science-ophobes out there. Hmmm.
"Recollect me darlin, raise me to your lips, two undernourished egos, four rotating hips"
