Telling the Truth: What It Costs, and What It's Worth

Andrew Vachss at the Penn State Faculty Staff Club Forum

"Teachers have one of the most difficult jobs you can imagine and they're paid far less than the people who pick up your garbage. The country's already voted about what we think about our kids, if you think about it. Teaching should be a revered profession, as it is in other places. ... The highest paid person in the entire state of Colorado who works for the state is the football coach. Most universities, the football coach—and I'm sure this is the same in this place, too—[is] paid more than the most highest ranking, Pulitzer Prized-winning, Nobel Prize-candidate professor. So you made that choice. I wouldn't put it back on the teachers. I mean, people go into teaching for one of two reasons: they have a calling, they have a commitment, and the money just doesn't matter; or they're really not very admirable people who are sort of ... water seeking its own level. And the question is, who sticks around the longest?"

Excerpted from Andrew Vachss' presentation at the Penn State Faculty Staff Club Forum on October 03, 2005. Vachss presented "Telling the Truth: What It Costs, and What It's Worth," and discussed child protection at The Nittany Lion Inn on the University Park campus. To hear the entire speech, click here.

© Copyright 2005 Andrew Vachss