4 ms·

Funny, almost all of my best teachers seemed to be retired from something else.

• tombert 4y ago
  There's probably a selection bias towards people who "do things because they feel like it" and "do things for the paycheck". If you're a retired lawyer, it's likely that you're teaching just keep yourself entertained, or maybe just some supplemental income [1]. When you do things for fun, instead of out of necessity, it gives you the distinct advantage of allowing yourself to focus only on things that are actually interesting to you. It's possible that my high school history teachers started teaching history specifically because they felt like they might have a unique take on it. [1] I know that teachers are traditionally underpaid; however if it's just supplemental income, "underpaid" is still often better than "zero income". $36,000 a year isn't a ton of money, but if you're already largely retired, it might be the difference between "taking a trip this summer" or not.