# How does a person with a PhD end up teaching in high school? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 28, 2005, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-person-with-a-phd-end-up-teaching-in-high-school/287147 "2005-01-28T18:26:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-person-with-a-phd-end-up-teaching-in-high-school/287147/61 "2014-07-18T15:15:04Z")
It jumped out at me too! Simpler times perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-person-with-a-phd-end-up-teaching-in-high-school/287147/62 "2014-07-18T15:37:50Z")
My 7th grade science teacher was “Dr.”, this thread was the first time it occurred to me that he “screwed up” his life. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-person-with-a-phd-end-up-teaching-in-high-school/287147/63 "2014-07-18T15:47:51Z")
My AP European History teacher has a PhD, and is probably my favorite instructor ever. He taught history and Latin. My Physics teacher received his shortly after I graduated. He’s still there teaching physics 20 years later. He is also an excellent educator. I am thankful that they chose to teach high school. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-person-with-a-phd-end-up-teaching-in-high-school/287147/64 "2014-07-18T15:56:35Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Um. I have a PhD. Pathobiology, concentrating in tumor immunology. If I were a high school teacher, my salary would be MUCH higher. And I’m about the hightest paid PhD of my seniority and age. > > I’m not dissing on teachers, as my ENTIRE family works in education. But, scientists are WAY more underpaid than teachers. At least nine years later, I’m much better paid than I was in 2005. It only took 10 years of post high school education, and four years of postdoctoral work! An overnight success! ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-person-with-a-phd-end-up-teaching-in-high-school/287147/65 "2014-07-18T17:30:38Z")
Universities that stress research may provide great research opportunities, but despite the current mythology of the degree, not all people with doctorates want to do research. There’s nothing about earning a doctorate that makes a person who wants to teach prefer one age group more than another. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-person-with-a-phd-end-up-teaching-in-high-school/287147/66 "2014-07-18T18:25:14Z")
nvm ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-person-with-a-phd-end-up-teaching-in-high-school/287147/67 "2014-07-18T21:45:39Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Now that Lakai has an advanced degree in an area where obtaining any job is difficult (JD) I have to think he has a very different perspective on this question. You can’t automatically assume people still agree with thoughts they had a decade prior. Yes, lets not forget that nine years ago the OP was 19 years old and just out of high school. Nineteen-year-old **Lakai** was a major idiot. Please don’t listen to anything he has to say. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-person-with-a-phd-end-up-teaching-in-high-school/287147/68 "2014-07-18T21:47:19Z")
> [@Lakai](#): > > Yes, lets not forget that nine years ago the OP was 19 years old and just out of high school. Nineteen-year-old **Lakai** was a major idiot. Please don’t listen to anything he has to say. For that admission, I’d give you a hug and a fancy coffee, if you were nearer. Or beer. ---
**Author:** ![Itself](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d07c76/32.png) [@Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-person-with-a-phd-end-up-teaching-in-high-school/287147/69 "2014-07-18T21:50:51Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > Even the teachers with whom I had problems (about half of them), they all enjoyed teaching. They taught us, even when they had PhDs, they preferred to teach teenagers (at a magnet school). In fact, that is one of the “problems” my school has had a few times. Because most of the faculty is made up of PhDs and not people with EdD or education majors, some others have complained the school is not qualified to teach teenagers. :rolleyes: I would be quite happy if PhDs became more prevalent than EdDs in pre-college education. Anyway, although I certainly don’t think that it’s necessarily a waste of potential or career to be a teacher if you have a PhD, it is a bit odd as a career path. The point of a PhD is to conduct original research, which teaching does not involve, and the level of knowledge required for the degree is far beyond what’s going to ever come up in a high-school classroom. Still, hooray for very qualified teachers who are presumably doing something they love. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-person-with-a-phd-end-up-teaching-in-high-school/287147/70 "2014-07-19T23:57:55Z")
In short, the academic job market for tenure-track hires is terrible, and for the lucky ones who land a job, there’s the pressure to gain tenure within 6-7 years (generally through a book or a few articles/chapters). In Texas, in the UT system at least, a tenure-track humanities professor starts around $50-55K a year. A K-12 teacher in a major school district makes somewhere from $40-50K. A K-12 teacher works far more hours, at least on teaching, but faces much less uncertainty over the tenure process. Students are less mature in a K12 environment, and there is generally more stress on a day to day level, but university classrooms are hardly stress free, and conflicts with students and fellow faculty members can really get ugly in universities in ways that are not the case in K12 education. In fact, university politics have driven more than a few professors to chuck it and get a K12 job. A PhD in a K12 environment may have more independence to pursue research on their own schedule, without the pressure of tenure. K12 professors who have doctorates or masters degrees can also supplement their income and maintain their academic chops with adjunct teaching at colleges during summers and independent scholarship. I know quite a few high school teachers who do this and seem to thrive. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-person-with-a-phd-end-up-teaching-in-high-school/287147.md?page=3)