<p>quickflood, what do you mean by
[quote]
one comment about the history major: my history teacher graduated from Berkeley; I don't know which major was he in, but it's just sad to see Berkeley graduates working as teachers w/ low pay. maybe he enjoys to be a teacher, but still, is it a little wasteful to go to Berkeley and end up teaching high school? I don't want sound so materialistic, but you know what I mean.
[/quote]
?</p>
<p>How can you on the one hand promote higher education and learning, yet also belittle your teacher and the occupation of teaching? Does that seem contradictory to you?</p>
<p>DRab,
don't get me wrong, teachers are great. I totally respect them. but I mean, if you are very smart and talented, you should apply your skills to bigger things. right? for example, do you think Einstein should have waste his time teaching high school physics which would've prevented him from contributing bigger gifts to the world. Teaching is a good contribution, but finding e=mc^2 is bigger contribution, right?
my history teacher is a really smart guy, I would chose him over our current leader any day. It just seems to me, he could have contributed much more to the society if he's not a teacher. But Teacher are great too, students get to learn from them.</p>
<p>Wittgenstein taught Kindergarten for a while. One of the smartest men alive, perhaps, teaching 4 years olds- that's amazing. His sister thought it was a waste, "opening up crates with the most precise instruments available when a crow-bar would have been fine," or something along that line, she thought. I'm ambivalent- if someone is happy teaching elementary school, middle school, whatever, it is that person's choice. I am glad, I guess, that Einstein didn't. Perhaps your teacher is contributing to society in more ways than we can see, by showing that even with some prestigious sounding degree, perhaps teaching is a big benefit to the world. Some high school teachers write in ways very similar to college profs, doing books on the side outside of actual instruction. It's far more rare at the high school level than the college level. Sometimes people end up at teaching for whatever reason, be it easiness of getting the job, easiness of the job itself, joy of the job for whatever reason. I don't know. Perhaps there is some bit of truth in "those who can't do, teach." </p>
<p>I don't blame you for your views. American culture, while on the one hand seeming to promote education, spreads phrases such as "Those who can't do, teach," and makes "others" out of academics in their "Ivory towers."</p>
<p>I personally aspire to be a high school teacher after getting a bachelor's in Integrative Biology here at Cal. I can't speak for anyone else, but I think passing on knowledge to the next generation and maybe having a chance to change someone's life can be as great and significant a contribution to society as developing the next great mathematical proof.</p>