[Reily]

That's an interesting observation. I remember going back to a high school reunion, a classmate of mine an state teacher's union organizer. He went from so-so high school basketball player to PE teacher back at my old high school (Yes a “Welcome Back Kotter” sort of thing!) to a very few years teacher's union guy. Apparently PE teaching was too challenging!

[EDINVA]

Many years ago when I was active in PTA (when it was still pretty conservative in our area), there was a meeting of all the schools in our local district on the question of “merit pay.” So I went as our school’s rep and voted FOR it. I was seated between 2 people I knew from nearby schools. One was an art teacher, the other - you guessed it - PE teacher married to another PE teacher.

After I raised my hand for the “Yes” vote, the PE teacher leaned across me to the art teacher, pointing his thumb in my direction (in other words, in my face) and asked her: “Did she vote Yes?” to which the other hrumphed “yes, she did.” The rest of the meeting wasn’t particularly comfortable.