Why do teachers teach?

I saw an interesting study a few years ago about the average educational level of teachers 50 years ago compared to today. It was higher then.
I can't find the study now, but from memory the finding was that 50 years ago, educated, intelligent and high-performing women had few career options and so large numbers went into teaching. Today, they have the same options as men and so they don't.

Another thing, not a part of that study was that a large number of teachers in years past were religious, typically from wealthier and better-educated families and of course today, not many people enter religious orders. Teaching was formerly a respected profession and salaries were high enough to allow for a home and family, neither of which is really true today.

So, why do teachers teach?

When I find it, I will post the study here. "It" refers to a study that found that the majority of new teachers in the US today come from lower middle class or working class families, typically the first in their families to attend college, and lack the social or cultural capital to access many other options. Teaching for them is the first rung on the ladder, ie a step in social mobility.

(In the old days, many teachers were themselves the children of teachers and so had grown up in that environment. It would be interesting to see how many ofthe children of these first-generation teachers enter teaching. If the study is correct, then the prognosis would be "very few" as presumably they would be going onto the second rung.)

Another study found that a significant number do not see teaching as a career, but as a gap-filler, a temporary move to give time while s/he works out what s/he really wants to do, or as something that can be picked up and dropped to allow for children or travel or artistic endeavors.

Salary, conditions and social status are not now factors in becoming a teacher, and training providers, districts and schools have realised this, appealing to those with a vocation, who want to "make a difference". Being a political decision, this of course affects who becomes a teacher and what s/he does and prioritizes. This may be why so many commentators decry the "politicization" of the classroom, although schools and classrooms have always been political; hwat has changed has been the values and the priorities of values and of content which reflect the changes in who are becoming teachers.

To change education, to improve it, to prepare for the future, we need to consider these two questions : why do teachers become teachers, and thus who becomes a teacher?

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Some perspectives

https://www.globalteacherprize.org/fr/nouvelles-et-blogs/ever-wondered-why-teachers-teach-here-are-7-excellent-reasons

https://educationonline.ku.edu/community/seven-reasons-to-become-a-teacher

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2015/oct/23/fact-or-fiction-the-reasons-teachers-choose-the-job-and-quit

https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2015/jan/27/five-top-reasons-teachers-join-and-quit