[jesterson]

> Lawyers are respected more than teachers, in many ways.

Wonder what those ways are - in my environment (and it's very business oriented, very far from teaching), teachers are respected way more than lawyers.

Yea, lawyers make more cash, but it's totally different story and has nothing to do with respect.

[mandmandam]

The cash is a big, big deal. And it comes with benefits like having more time off, better health care, a higher quality of life. Cash is intimately linked; highly, highly correlated with respect from strangers. You can't ignore it.

Lawyers can afford better clothes, giving them instantly more respect from strangers. They eat at more expensive restaurants, shop at higher class shops, fly in a better class. Their respect might be shallow and paid for, but again, let's not ignore it.

Now think of two generic families - one has a kid who just graduated law school, one has a kid who just graduated teacher's college. I don't think the teacher's family would be significantly more proud, in shallow terms. Probably the opposite, and that's sad af.

Think of what happens when a cop stops a teacher, compared to when they stop a lawyer - who are they more scared of overreaching with?

In many situations, the lawyer has more connections, and more capability in many ways to inflict consequences on people who mess with them.

I've heard many times that teachers are overpaid - seriously, I have. People complain that their job is too fulfilling (which is insane, for sure, but I do hear it). People are envious of the three month "holiday" every year, ignorant of all that needs to be done in that time.

I'm neither a teacher or a lawyer, but I know many teachers who deserve far better lives, and many lawyers who deserve far, far less.

[jesterson]

It may be a cultural thing, but it does seem to me you use prosperity and respect as interchangeable terms, while they are not.

If police guy stops a lawyer he indeed wouldn't possibly mess with him but certainly not because of respect, quite the opposite. The is russian saying which can be translated as "don't touch shit - it won't smell".

I personally don't have respect to someone just because they have 7 digits in bank account or huge villa in LA/SF. Or went to Cornell/Harvard - thanks to life experiences I've seen a lot of graduates from both institutions who were dumb af. That just doesn't make any sense.

Again, it may be a cultural thing, but respect is something achieved by someone's actions, not assets. I know few people (sadly very few) who sacrificed their wealth for a more meaningful things in life. Their assets are next to nothing, yet respect to them is tremendous.

Saying teachers are overpaid is ridiculous though. Wonder if people who say that send their kids to public schools.