So apparently there is a teacher crisis in Houston, so that HISD has launched an 'alternative teacher program'. This program is a short one year school for non-teachers to start becoming teachers. THe catch? It costs $3500, but apparently you will get paid a teacher's salery while in school. Essentially it's a stipend. However, from what I can tell, you start at a very low level. The starting teacher salery is around 13k. And, if you teach in college, too bad, it doesn't count.

Alternatively, you can do Teach for America, which is a 5 week summer course designed for college grads, after which you have to teach for a minimum of 2 years in a disadvantaged school. They mention that the starting saleries are generally pretty good, from 28k. And you get a student loan deferal while doing the job.

What promted this was the question of what can I get for a PhD? Apparently I can't teach high school or below, not easily, and not at a decent salary. In contrast, I can in theory get a faculty position at a institution of higher learning; a university or community college. Which is odd to me but I understand teaching second graders is different from teaching college students. However, there is no (to my limited knowledge) pediology of college teaching, whereas for high school and below, there are major requirements as far as testing and certifications go. So anyway, I found that very interesting.