Response to Other Student

Responding to another student's intro post...

Hi there ****,
I'd love to talk more about what you're working on, as I also used to own an educational center, am helping with a nonprofit, and am in the Math for Teaching program!  :-)  Feel free to email me at teresaeg@gmail to connect, if you want.

In response to your answers to the questions...
I definitely agree that teaching is not valued enough in US society.  Just paying them more would not immediately fix the problem, but I do think that's one step along the way, as it would hopefully start to attract a wider (and better?) pool of candidates.  As you mentioned, the lack of rigor and selectivity is a hugh issue.  Have you seen this?  http://www.joshuakennon.com/sat-scores-ranked-by-intended-college-major-show-teachers-are-below-average/  On average, teachers (or rather college students who intend to become teachers) don't even score at the mean for the SAT.  Yes, there are a lot of people who become teachers but had other majors besides education - but there's still a point to be made. 
If you haven't already, I'd recommend reading about Finland's teacher training - first of all, there's competition to get in. 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/05/15/what-if-finlands-great-teachers-taught-in-u-s-schools-not-what-you-think/
http://www.ncee.org/programs-affiliates/center-on-international-education-benchmarking/top-performing-countries/finland-overview/finland-teacher-and-principal-quality/

On your second answer, I also agree with you that autodidacticism is critical.  There is so much information around us now - if students are able to learn on their own and seek out what they need, then they can learn so much faster.  Do you have any ideas on how to teach/foster independent learning?  Consistently offering opportunities and allowing students to pursue the topics that they're interested in seems to show some results - also starting early, as in start in preschool!  But often by high school, if they've been through so many years of teacher-directed learning, I find it hard to get all of the students to take a more self-directed approach.