Something that my MIL mentioned to me last week when we were discussing her granddaughters and their possible career paths. When she was growing up there were so few choices for women. Those that wanted to work were generally teachers or nurses. The really brave ones ventured out into the "manly men" areas. But for the most part, the best and the brightest went into teaching and nursing. There were no other easy choices. Those that weren't so bound to work were housewives, secretaries, and/or other tasks not requiring higher degrees
Now the best and the brightest women can go anywhere, especially if they are smart in math and sciences. You are a science teacher; could you not make significantly more money in private industry?
The best and the brightest go into areas with the money. This waters down the pool of those available for the schools. Maybe when teaching is as attractive as the private industry schools can genuinely compete for those that might go into non-educational fields
Yes, actually I majored in education for a while as an undergrad, but changed my major after working as an unskilled laborer one summer, making more than my mother was making after 20 years in education.
I switched back to education from industry after I had children, because the hours were more “Mom-friendly”, and because I’d always wanted to teach, but never could rationalize the pay cut until I had children.