I'm a teacher as well, which is one of the reasons that sentiment bothers me. It implies that anyone who is a teacher is only a teacher because they couldn't cut it in a different field.
What do you mean by volunteer work? Teachers are paid quite well on average.
I also don't see what Title 1 schools have to do with the discussion, but good for you for teaching in that situation (I mean that honestly, not sarcastically). I teach at a university and am one of the few conservative people there.
"those who can't, teach" is one of the dumbest things I've heard people say towards teachers. It ignores the possibility that someone became a teacher for the right reasons; to actually teach and help people graduate with a meaningful and powerful education. I know many people are teachers for poor reasons, but don't lump all of us together.
Wow, I get that this post puts teacher unions in a negative light, but dude. Not all teaches are losers who failed at life, some people have a gift for teaching and choose to do that to help their community. We've all had bad teachers, but what about good ones, too? Being an effective teacher takes dedication, time, and talent; most people don't have that ability or motivation.