I love that you asked about this topic, and have a lot of thoughts on it that I’ll share here.
In my opinion as a long time federal civil servant who has been pushed out and back into the private sector within the last year, we’ve fallen so far because there has been a sustained societal attack against and devaluing of service to others. The ethos around what is “respected”’has shifted heavily toward making as much money as possible and having lavish lifestyle and expensive things and experiences. Up to a generation ago, teachers were respected far more. Now, they are attacked as self-serving and part of the problem (the attacks on teachers unions are frequently veiled attacks on teachers themselves) despite the low pay and the reasons almost all go into it. And the problem is not unique to teachers. Doctors used to be more respected and now are more frequently under attack as self-serving, uncaring, and dishonest. Civil servants of almost all stripes are viewed as corrupt or wasteful parasites upon the American taxpayer despite the fact that many could make way more money in the private sector. Even police and members of the military are far less respected than they used to be. Meanwhile finance and tech bros esteem has skyrocketed. When I was in school a generation ago, premed was far more admired than a desire and ability to go into finance or consulting. Community leaders, including religious ones, were valued. But, we have sunk to a place where the assumption is that everybody is just out for themself and to chase as many dollars as possible, as opposed to wanting greater value and meaning for their fellow humans and community through their work. So, those who go into professions for less pay are societally assumed to be either less competent, lazy, foolish, or corrupt. That is how we got here, a culture obsessed with money and self-interest to the exclusion of all else. It took decades to get here, but that is where we are.
Having said all of that, there are likely two big picture things that make your daughter feel like she’d be a failure by going into teaching. The first are the big picture forces I mentioned above. Those are real, and she feels them just like many who now aspire to be finance bros (for the record, I have no issue with people going into finance. I do have an issue with how much our best and brightest overvalue that path compared to all the others we as a society need. And while it is true that some are going into finance due to heavy loans and family need, that is not why that profession has skyrocketed amongst well off Ivy League+ grads who come from families with money that could afford to do other things). One of the best counterbalances she can have to that is you, her family who are in sales and other more lucrative professions, telling and showing her how much you support, respect, and value her choice to go into teaching. She needs to feel it to believe it. Family respect often means a lot in a world that is giving a different message.
Second, your daughter is feeling the pressure of the folks around her who don’t value those things. That is where young people are at now with everyone aspiring to engineering or business and the humanities are for suckers ethos. However, if she can cut through the noise, she will find a community of like minded people in education majors who are passionate about that mission. They, like her, will value other things than money. They, will respect things on a totally different scale that is not weighed by how much money you make, what car you drive, or fancy vacations. And, in being surrounded by such peers, she will start to feel respected by the people who matter to her on measures that she actually thinks in her soul are important - what she’s doing for kids, innovative ideas in the classroom or elsewhere, success of students, etc. The hard part is getting from where she is, to a community of peers who values the same thing she does. But once she does, she may stop caring so much what those outside that group think about her choices and career and start caring more about being respected by her peers.
That has been my experience, I have been a public service lawyer for a long time. That is always what I wanted to do. Early in my career I did the big law thing for a brief stint because I could and I was supposed to given my “talent” and credentials or whatever. That is what virtually all the people who had my resume from the schools I went to do. I hated it. I hated it every single day that I did it. It was bad for my mental health. It was bad for my happiness. It was bad for my sense of value I was contributing to the world. But I made a lot of money and people were impressed by it. At my core, I was not impressed. My life has been so much better since I moved to what I wanted to do all along. And, I still have never made as much money in any year as I made as a very junior person in private practice (not even inflation adjusted just raw dollars). That is despite being highly accomplished and managing teams and high profile and sensitive projects. And I would not change it for the world. I have classmates and friends who make 10 times what I made in a year in public service. But I made enough for my lifestyle, and I was happier and more satisfied with my life and career than most of them. The irony is that I’ve been forced back into private practice by the shifts in the federal government. I may make the most money I’ve made since I was a junior attorney soon, and if I could, I’d go back to the work I care about. The money can’t replace the values of the work I did to me.
I have lots of educators in my family, including siblings. They are no less (and sometimes more) happy then many I know who make gobs more money. You can make enough to have a great life as a teacher. But it involves a different value set than is de rigor in America today.