This op-ed by McSweeny's editor Dave Eggers is something of a follow-up to Tom Friedman's recent Behind Every Grad ... column.

One day they're shaping minds, a moral force in the lives of the young people they teach and know, and in some ways the architects of the future of the nation. The next day they're serving cocktails and selling plasma TV's at the mall.

The authors have written a "punchy, thoughtful" new book, "Teachers Have It Easy": The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America's Teachers, which received a Starred Review by Publishers Weekly.

Reading, Writing, Retailing