I really want to be a teacher. I cannot, in good faith to my family, lower their standard of living to the point where we could afford for me to be one. A 1st year teacher where I am makes about 60% of my current salary, and that was true even before I switched over to software. My first job out of college as a mechanical engineer, I made ~$60k a year, equivalent to roughly $70k nowadays. A new high school teacher in Texas makes about $50k in my area. The difference is that, in a decade, my salary doubled; theirs went up by about 10%.

I would take a pay cut to work as a teacher, especially for the ~70 working days off, which is about triple what I have now. A 50% cut isn't feasible though.