While I think it’s a shame we don’t get the best and brightest to be teachers, I really think the biggest problem is that too many kids are coming to school from dysfunctional homes. I have a friend who was a teacher in the Bronx. She had a 10 year old in her 3rd grade class that got no special ed, but who could not read at all. My friend did not manage to get her to read either. The next year she moved into a suburban district and suddenly all of her kids were reading at grade level or above. She didn’t suddenly become a great teacher - in fact she may have been a better teacher in the Bronx, but it was burning her out.