If you all think teaching is such an easy gig with great pay and benefits, then you should do it, because as a teacher I can tell you that it really sucks. You work 60 hour weeks but you don't get paid for 60 hour weeks, plus you get absolutely no respect from anybody, plus you get crappy insurance and terrible prescription coverage, plus you don't get to have a pension anymore, so go invest in cat food. The profession changed in the 2000s and the only people who knowingly go into the profession today are upple-middle class people looking to "make a difference" before they leave to work for their parents' business and Teach for America volunteers looking for an adventure for two years without joining the Peace Corps.
Honestly, if I could do it all over again, I'd just get a business degree, because then I could make a TON of money and be my own boss, rather than being unable to go to the bathroom and having poorly socialized teenagers scream at me all day.
I respect the profession of teaching and it's a hard job. Having said that, why don't you start a business and get rich if you are unhappy with teaching? That's not meant as a slight, but there has to be a reason you continue.
I worked 2350 hours (we bill by the hour) last year . That's an average of 45 hours week every week. I had some 80 hour weeks and some 30 hours weeks but those are real hours that exclude time spent cultivating clients, business lunches, vacation, days off and travel.
I know many teachers (my father was one) and none the them are pulling anywhere near the hours I do on an annual basis. Holidays, summers off, spring break, they all serve to pull the teachers annual hours down.
Many people in the business world work more than I do. 50+ hours year around are fairly common in management positions.
Many companies don't provide health insurance at all (I'm lucky enough to have it). Because I want to retire at some point, I save an exorbitant amount of my salary versus having a guaranteed pension if you stick it out. I have much less job security than teaching.
Regarding the poorly socialized teenagers, I get to deal with 7 figure incomes complaining about their lack of money.
I make more than teachers, but the hours and risks being taken are very different.
PS - I'm not complaining about my vocation. I'm very fortunate.