join the dark side: become a principal

While we're talking "dream jobs that aren't," might as well mention the MSN puff piece about "surprising salaries."

School Principal

What they do: Supervise all areas of a school, including educational programs, disciplinary actions, administrative tasks, budgetary concerns, and managing relationships with faculty, students and students' parents.

The surprise: Although much has been made of teachers' low salaries (averages are in the $40,000 range), principals can earn double that. According to the BLS, the median annual salary for high school principals is $82,225.

We'll give TRP the rebuttal:

Reason #2: Every time I have a crazy parent who doesn't like my decision...and this year has actually been quite good; there has only been one...I say: "I'm sorry you're not happy with this decision. Feel free to contact our principals if you have any further questions." I don't want to have to take the next dozen phone calls from that crazy parent....

I love my classroom, and while I can see maybe wanting to do a career switch at some point (in another decade or so, perhaps), I just can't see anything drawing me into the main office. I'd just as soon retire after 28 more years of Gatsby and Hamlet and Things Fall Apart.

And you know what? That actually doesn't sound too shabby.

Nope. Not too shabby at all.