Thomas Sowell writes about the barriers to entering the teaching profession. I'd have to say after reading it that I tend to somewhat agree with the first few paragraphs.

I took some of the most ridiculous classes in graduate school for my M.Ed. My most memorable was the certification-required Exceptional Children course (EXC 2010). The gist of the course was "memorize all of these retarded laws for special ed students so you can dumb everything down to be compliant." Please notice I said the laws are retarded, not the students. I'd say that about 80% of my classes fit into the "not meeting my expectations for graduate school" category. The other 20% consisted of the part where I paid to be a teacher (student teaching) and two courses I had with a good instructor.

I also had difficulty arranging my own interviews despite having what I would selfishly call an impressive resume with a degree in polymer chemistry and a minor in geochemistry from a respected engineering school and graduating at the top of my graduate school class. I went through the dance and applied with the county office before sending a letter and resume to my then top choice school. I tried calling the principal, I tried calling the department head, I e-mailed, I re-sent a resume. About two months after I accepted a position at another school in the system I finally got a letter in the mail from the principal stating that I would need to apply with the county first. I tend to forget that government works with extreme, unbridled efficiency.

I haven't read the book recommended in the article, nor do I have any intentions to do so, but reading the article reminds me that I have long professed that pretty much anything can be proven with statistics. With the right manipulation, the same set of data can be made to justify or refute any claim. It just depends on how you phrase your conclusions.