Hey, guys, did you know we're rich? ;-)
From reading through the posts, we teachers are damned if we do and damned if we don't. According to some, I'm a lesser teacher because if I don't go to a top-rated university, but if I do, it's a waste of time. My masters is from University of Virginia and I graduated with a perfect 4.0. Some here may think it's a waste, but I have parents that will disagree with you. My education taught me how to teach reading and I am damn good at it.
As far as pay goes, my pay is determined by two separate groups of board members and I have little control over it, other than to move to a different county. If I chose to spend 90 minutes in the car each way, I could earn $25-30k a year more, but I don't make that choice.
And yes, I do get 10 weeks off in the summer and I like it. If someone here doesn't like the fact that they don't get that time off, be a teacher and bask in the love and admiration of your peers here.
What I especially love is the general idea that I should hold my head in shame and actually grovel to the public at large and beg for a pittance on which to live. Bull-hockey. I earn every penny I'm paid. Of course there are some bad eggs in the profession and I hold those people in contempt and loathing. We are given an important task and abusing that priviledge is a crime. (For those of you getting ready to ask that one important question on your fingers, no I'm not in a union-never have, never will be.)
As far as being overpaid, well, what would most people chose to pay teachers?