I understand what you're saying about incentives and making it tougher to become a teacher. I don't necessarily agree, though. I just take exception to the insinuation that people only take teacher jobs or nursing jobs because they weren't smart enough to do anything else. That may not have been the way you intended it, but that's the way it came across. That, and the "9 months a year" lie for teachers. My eldest daughter was valedictorian of her class, makes the President's list every semester in college, and yet she actually wants to become a teacher like her mother. She knows she won't get rich doing it but that is her chosen career path, and she will graduate in the spring. My youngest daughter was salutatorian (should have been valedictorian, but that's a whole other story) and has a 98 average in college right now. She has always wanted to be a registered nurse, and I know that she will be. She knows she faces extremely long hours, though the pay is good, but that is what she wants to do. They certainly have my blessing, though either of them are smart enough to be anything they want to be, including a doctor, engineer, accountant, etc.