At a time when many people are wondering, “What jobs does a history degree prepare a student for?” almost everyone would agree that one such job is K–12 teaching. So this article from a Columbia history major who feels that she and her peers are being steered away from teaching should concern us as historians—even if it didn’t also concern us as citizens. Our communities ought to consider why teachers are paid less than financial advisors; surely our children are as important as our money. But the professors who teach history majors also ought to consider our complicity in the inadequate status afforded to precollegiate teachers in American culture.

– Kenneth Pomeranz & James Grossman

This post first appeared on AHA Today.