Legitimizing teaching

The ways in which Rome ran its state schools is indeed fascinating.

Though, more than anything, what had me widening my eyes as I read was how state funds were what legitimated the teaching profession.

As I've noted before, in Greece teaching was a last ditch career move (as it was throughout most of Rome's pre-fall existence). It was a poorly paid job and grouped with prostitution because teachers were being paid for a service. Land and goods were fine things to earn a living from, but services? Never!

Yet, it sounds as though Rome's designating things like academic chairs and having spots on the government payroll for a very small number of teachers made teaching enviable. Of course, these spots were truly far and few between - even Rome had a very limited number of such positions.

The whole situation reminds me of the current state of teaching in (at least) Ontario. There are just a few well-paying spots and thousands of people vying for them. Meanwhile, there are those teaching and tutoring on their own, just as there were in Rome, thus buttressing the comparison. Hopefully a barbarian invasion isn't what it takes to fix our current bout with employment issues in the teaching profession, though.