Teacher wages are not that low. I do some math here, read the whole thread (I made an error in my initial post).

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1673075

Teachers also have many perks - summer vacation, minimal accountability, defined-benefit pensions, etc. In fact, a rather significant chunk of teacher's comp is perks, not pay, far more so than most people in the private sector.

And in-district status for their children, even if they live out of district. For a parent of 3 children living in EPA or San Jose or something, working as a teacher in Palo Alto saves basically $20k x 3 post-tax every year, vs. going to a comparable private school.

(which is why I think "people sneaking into schools with fake residence addresses" should be punished; if they're trying to send their children to another district, it should be by making a sacrifice and working in the district, vs. indirectly taxing everyone who lives in that district)

> minimal accountability

Name any job other than "Congressman" in which a single nude photo of you will put you name in the tabloids and end your career.

Thats an extreme case. The problem, is that after a certain point in your career it will take nothing short of that nude photo to get a teacher fired. No matter how ineffective or incompetent they are.

Teachers still have a ton of accountability. They aren't necessarily accountable to be good teachers, but there's a lot of stuff they are accountable to do. There's usually a lot of paperwork and all kinds of requirements.

Agreed: My wife is a teacher and I'm not sure I'd describe it as extra vacation rather than compensation for the unpaid overtime during the school school year, particularly since teachers have a very rigid schedule.