Are science teachers prevented from teaching? Leigh Van Valen thinks so. Leigh Van Valen is a prominent American evolutionary biologist who proposed several very well known ideas such as the Red Queen Hypothesis.

One of the most surprising parts of Van Valen's article is a story he shares about a friend of his who is a teacher:

Here’s an actual example, someone who has a Ph.D. in a real science from one of the best universities in the country. She has even written a textbook and published her own scientific research. She is now a regular substitute teacher in the Chicago Public Schools, where she sometimes takes over the classes of a departed science teacher for months on end.

For this she receives only a substitute’s pay, and she is removed when the system manages to find a “qualified” teacher, i.e. an officially certified one, despite local recognition of her superb performance. Her actual performance and knowledge mean nothing.

At the university I attend, faculty recently asked to get a small raise of pay a year ago because their current rate of pay was only at the point of what college science teachers were making back in 1997..... unfortunately administration voted it down saying it wasn't feasible.... the kicker.... last year.... top administration gave itself a pay increase from 150k a year to 200k a year...... that 50k a year difference is more than a single college science teacher makes in a year... DISGUSTING!