A Changing America (cont'd)

I was re-reading a book, Teacher In America by Jacques Barzun, which was originally published in 1945. My copy is a paperback edition of the sixth printing from 1959. On page 15, I read the following:

"Meanwhile I dwell on the necessity of teaching, that is to say on the need for teachers. There are never enough. Statistics tell us that at this moment we are one hundred thousand short - one in ten. This does not include men fighting or putting their special skill at the war plant's disposal. One hundred thousand have simply jumped at the chance for higher pay. that is their right and in a competitive system they must be free from blame. Nevertheless we have here an estimate of the number who are normally in teaching for want of better jobs. The "call" cannot be strong if a teacher will leave the classroom to floor-walk in a department store. Doctors are poor too, but they stick to their rounds and their patients." (italics mine)

Wow, I thought, how many people remember that! Comparisons are not fair, however. Today doctors know far more, and it is much too costly to go through the process of becoming a doctor.

But what a change!