20-Year Prospect
Reading, writing, and 'rithmetic – we hope you like these subjects, because there will always be a new generation of wee Americans who need your help in learning them.
The under-eighteen population in this country is expected to grow from 74.5 million people in 2015 to 89.3 million people in 2060. While not every young'un under the legal voting age gets enrolled in school, many do: Nearly fifty million kids attended elementary or secondary school in 2014. That's a whole lotta minds for you to be responsible for.
The problem is that, even though what you do is necessary for a whole slew of reasons, your job is never completely safe. Financial difficulties led districts around the country to cut 300,000 teaching jobs between June 2009 and August 2012. This sucks for you, sucks for kids, and sucks for our nation's future.
Will teachers still be around a couple of decades from now? Sure...but there may not be as many as we need, and they may not be able to afford the tools required to give our children the education they deserve.