I love teaching. My church has given me the opportunity to teach in different capacities over the years. Sometimes I teach other adults, but the most enjoyable experiences have been when I teach children. I would love to teach as a living, but like so many of my peers, teaching just isn't an attractive career in our country for so many reasons.

What can be done to make someone like me become a teacher?

If I can figure out the answer to that question, I think we could go a long way towards solving the teacher shortage, as well as some of the educational problems we have today.

I'm not saying that I'm the perfect teacher and that we need more of "me", I'm just saying that I think there are a lot of people out there that are just like me. They would love to teach, and would do so, if only that career was competitive with the other options available to them.

There are many who are idealistic enough that they don't let that deter them from teaching, and they are a boon to our society. We can't praise these people enough for sacrificing better opportunities to enrich the lives of our children. Unfortunately, there are also many who teach because it is easy to become a teacher, and they don't have to worry too much about being very good at it. These people find out quickly that teaching is anything but an easy job and move on to other things.

My worry is that we lose just as many potentially great teachers to other career opportunites that offer better pay and a lot less frustration. How can we make a change that will improve this situation we have in our society?

I have a sneaking suspicion that anything we do will have to start with getting rid of the teacher's unions. Any organization that stifles growth, innovation, and personal ingenuity in order to protect the jobs of those that don't work hard enough to deserve keeping those jobs
(the definition of most unions) is going to be a serious hurdle to overcome.