I think that's a fairly natural reaction. In many ways we're more professional at giving presentations, for example, than say, managing directors or something like that. As teachers we give people a great deal. We can be very important people in our students' lives, and yet we're not considered, in professional terms, as say a lawyer or someone else who earns a lot of money. I studied economics and economic history, and EFL as I've seen it in France or in Britain and a lot of other countries, always reminds me of the Industrial Revolution.
People do it because it's a tremendously rewarding experience.
And a lot of people, despite the lack of financial rewards, go on to do Diplomas or master's degrees, which are very expensive and very demanding, without that having a fundamental effect on any career they might have. So they're professionalising themselves, and the profession, if it is a profession, in the widest terms of numbers just isn't offering rewards to people who do put in the personal effort and doesn't offer a career. So I think it's perfectly understandable if many people don't want to make that effort and spend that money, or literally can't spend that money because they haven't got it. Well I got into training, but I also did a lot of studying over the years. I moved from economics to English lanauge teaching, which meant that in the process I had to start all over again and do an English degree.