Not all, but the one in my example did, and many do: http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=High_School_Teacher/Salary http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=

Not all, but the one in my example did, and many do: http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=High_School_Teacher/Salary http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=High_School_Teacher/... I am sure that by getting a master's degree, teaching in private schools, being in certain states or cities, teaching classes that are in great demand, etc., teachers can reach higher salaries. But I think we can agree that by becoming teachers in the first place, they pretty much accepted the risk of never earning much. Likewise, not all programmers in start-ups earn 40k, which is what the example was about.