What career could I support a family best with; counselor or high school biology teacher?
Asked by Sunny McBubbles
My mom's a social worker and I have no desire to do that for a living...

Best Answer:
I taught high school biology 30 years ago, and then left the field to become an award winning home builder. Unfortunately; once teaching biology, there is little else you can do to afford yourself pay increases, but go into administration. What you will no doubt find, is that the system is set up so that the most talented of educators are in the classroom, and that the best pay is outside of it. Given your 2 choices, and the reality that you need to provide for your family, Clinical Licensed Social Work may be the way to go. It is a great question by the way, and it leads one to see what is wrong with our education system. It is absurd to think that as a society, we tend to discount our best asset, which is our youth, and do that by setting up a system of pay that precludes the very best from entering the field? I know my CPA could teach high school bookeeping, but why would he when he can make a 6 figure income with his own business? I know that a biologist for the state could teach high school biology, but why would he/she do that if they are to earn less? From my own viewpoint, things like tenure, teacher "certification", and teacher unions, tend to stifle the system from improving upon itself, and in the end, just like in the private sector, one must perform their job lest they be fired and replaced, and we should always be striving to find the best teachers to form the minds of our asset base, which is our youth. In a capitalistic and free market society, the only way to do that is with "$ PAY", and education is just not set up that way. In fact, here in Florida, the best paid teachers are the ones who took easy course work in college, like physical education, and then became a football coach? Go figure.
Me.
Answered by SmartBompa

Social worker. They can do counseling but a counselor can't do social work. A social worker can help families as well as students, a counselor can't. There's a huge need for mental health professionals. Consider it.
Answered by blt830

I just want to say, that for reals, my little sis is a highschool biology teacher....and she is doing pretty well...Plus, she gets the summers off.
Answered by Nubs