I would like to change the fact that despite being the ‘greatest country in the world’ 🙄, there are millions upon millions of Americans in poverty, unemployed, and dying in their homes because they can’t afford medical care. I want to change the fact that 1% of Americans are more wealthy than the rest of the entire country combined, and only get richer by stepping on the poor. I want livable, comfortable wages and hours.

“I am not jealous of a rich person’s wealth, I am jealous of their ability to live their life to the fullest and pursue their passions without working themself to death.”

Monkey paw curls, and the athletes in question are professional lacrosse players!

More seriously, I would love to see us value education and teachers more, such that we would be baffled by why anyone would ever expect teachers not to be paid well. Somebody will no doubt think that teachers get paid so little only because there are so many people who are able to meet the minimum standards, but I’d argue that the expectations we have are (1) informed by the salaries on offer, and (2) twist people’s passion to get them to take less than they’re worth. It’s a sticky question, but I think it would be a virtuous cycle. Pay people more, they’ll teach better because they’re more comfortable with their income, and they’ll stay in the profession longer, and be driven to excel because it’s a good gig. You have to be careful not to think that teaching kids manifests in metrics like a used car sales job; to a certain extent you have to trust that a good job will draw talented workers, and that for this job in particular success will look different in different places.