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No, I say what teachers are paid is more than they should be paid for what is ordinarily a nominal 1260-1500 hours per year, compared to a nominal 2000 hours for a full time employee.

Teachers like to pretend that they work as many hours as FTE's because they put in so many hours after school; they fail to take in to account that most full time white collar professionals put in at least as many hours beyond their nominal time as teachers do.

Bottom line: when you add extra hours that ALL college educated professionals put in, teachers still work 500-750 fewer hours per year. Consequently, they deserve to be paid considerably less than FTE's are paid. And the truth is, many ARE NOT paid less than FTE professionals.

So why couldn't you handle teaching, anyway?

Your presumption is annoying. I handled teaching just fine. I have several teaching awards at both high school and undergraduate level. I wasn't terrifically enthused with academia after I got my PhD, and decided to do something new. It wasn't the first time: I was a machinist for years before I went back to graduate school.

Of the white collar professionals that I have known, what you say is simply not true. They rarely seem to work at home. You mentioned software developers, and that's fine, but I have had friends who were in IT, who were in personnel management, who were (are) defense contractors, who worked in law offices (not the lawyers themselves, but support) who were in advertising... and their at-home work ranged from "the occasional report" to "absolutely nothing." So while I do not complain about my pay, personally, I do not accept your statement that I am overpaid.

So, you were an award winning teacher who got sick of being paid so much to do so little, eh? Well, it's an honor to meet you, I can tell you. It's rare on the internet to find people willing to demand so much admiration. Oh wait, no it isn't.