The probelm with comparing any profession to teachers is that teachers' pay isn't (and shouldn't be) linked directly to profit.

There's also the fact that there have to be a huge number of teachers per capita compared to professions that pay well, like doctors or lawyers. Education is in the same ballpark of importance as medical care, but one GP can serve hundreds of patients, whereas I'm dubious about even the best teachers being able to teach effectively if they're given more than 30 students in a class.

as well you should be dubious. Plenty of literature support small class sizes - especially for elementary grades.

According to most research, the ideal class size is about 16.

I understand the teachers’ irritation at always being the benchmark for low pay (I'm a teacher myself), but you can see why it's a good rhetorical device. If you say “equivalent to a teacher” you automatically carry the emotional meaning of “absurdly underpaid given the training, skills, and positive impact that the person has.”

That’s why they don’t say “equivalent to a long-time GM assembly line worker” or “equivalent to a guy who takes tickets on the Washington State Ferry system,” even though those might be equally correct from a purely factual point of view. Hell, those people may be underpaid too. But you can’t be guaranteed that your audience will know it in their heart the moment that they read it.

On the way back to my car today, I had my first encounter with someone who didn't know what a writer did. "So you guys write the stuff that the actors say?" Hand to god, I always thought it was an urban myth that people believed the actors made it all up themselves.

The person, however, was very nice, asked me a few questions about why we were striking and wished me luck.

maybe you need a heavier sign.

Perhaps. That might have had the side benefit of not blowing apart from the sticks in the wind.

Wow. That's...frightening, Kristen. How could someone not know about...writers?

Hell, I used to think there were tiny people inside the radio who would sing and talk. But then again, I was three.

If I stop and think about it, it makes sense that Average Person never considers what goes into making the TV shows they watch. I mean, hey, when I eat a piece of chicken, I'm not thinking about the dude who slaughtered it or plucked its feathers or whatever.

True, but surely people have heard terms like "scripts" and the like? And maybe have glanced at a "written by" credit before? In both television and movies? Or perhaps seen an awards show that had a category for "Best Writing" or "Best Screenplay"? It seems like a fairly hard-to-miss idea. Did the person think the actors wrote all their own lines? Or made it up on the spot?