If Conservatives are so smart, why are all the Teachers and Professors Liberal?

Here is exhibit A. I am the rare conservative teacher. Why did I become a teacher? To be totally honest, I hated school as a student, I loathed homework, was bored in 3/4ths of my classes, only liked a handful of teachers. I never thought when I graduated that teaching was a viable option. I hated public speaking, had bad school experiences, and always wanted a job that allowed for working in the great outdoors.

I started as an Animal Science major, hoping to work on a ranch somewhere, switched to prevet, switched again to undeclared, then took an intro to education class. I became a teacher for 2 reasons:

1) I loved that I could make a difference, I loved that what I said and did could have a positive influence. I loved that when I met the kids, it was so important to them that I showed up to their basketball games and band concerts because so few people did.

2) I, as you mentioned, appreciated the security. I grew up in a family with a father who worked in the timber industry. He believed then and still does that for job security, you have to get a college degree. He drilled into us that we needed to get a degree, "even in underwater basketweaving" he'd say, just to show we were educated and not go through the struggles he went through when the timber industry collapsed in Oregon. In college, I discovered that many people with college degrees were just as vulnerable as my dad, just because they had a degree they were not immune to economics. So I figured teachers were always needed, it was a secure job.

I took the job field that would always be needed and in demand. And I took a job I could feel good about doing.

So why are so many teachers liberal? First, their preparation is liberal and indoctrinates them. If they do not have strong inherent convictions they succomb. Second, as you state, the security comes from a union, and inspires a degree of liberal world views as a self protection ideology. When I taught in public schools, we constantly heard our superiors say to vote this way or that, to lobby for better facilities, smaller classes, etcetera, and if you took it at face value, that was the path of least resistance. I saw the need for things, the school I first taught at had leaks everywhere, a window that shattered when I opened it because it was so old, and lab materials from the 60's or 70's. What you rarely saw in the classroom was how much of the money that should have repaired facilities and updated supplies was wasted on administrative bureocracy and retention of unqualified buthigh on the pay scale teachers....waste is rampant in schools just as I saw much waste when I was in the military. I think the other reason teachers are liberal comes down to world view. Teachers are often idealists when they start out. They believe they are going to be the one cool teacher who changes kids lives, and makes the world a better place. Liberalism at the grass roots is ultimately an idealism that we all can change the world if we work together. Conservatism is an ideal that if we work hard, we can succeed on our own, then many of us once we do can choose to use our wealth to do positive things.

You might want to type your post into a document that allows spell checking, then cut and paste into the blog. It helps reduce errors. Your ideas were worth reading but the typos were a distraction. Good post though, and interesting ideas.