My thesis is that teachers do not do any better a job at selecting and keeping classroom reptiles than the general public does, because they use the same books and pet stores for their information. These are some of the fields and jobs that involve animal experience and training. If you are interested in more current salary data, head over to the Career Development Center at your local junior college and look through the resource materials there. Here are some suggestions to make the best use of the time you are in school, whether you are in middle or high school, entering college right from high school, entering college after several years of working, or returning to college for a post-graduate study. Identify your goals, strengths and weaknesses.
Many schools have resources for the returning student.
Build a study plan, including when and how much you'll need to study to meet your goals. If you have a family and job, this may make carving out study time more difficult, but not impossible. Go to class regularly. Often there is more communicated in class, in lectures, formal and informal discussion, than you will find in your books. Such discussions may help clarify things that might otherwise be confusing when just reading them out of a book.