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Education

Kindergarten teachers, except special education

Typically requires Bachelor's degree

What is this page & how do I use it?

This is a research report for one career — the kind an analyst would write for a stock. The rating at the top is the neutral baseline (same for everyone); below it come the cases for and against, how the last official forecast for this career actually aged, and what the education path costs and pays.

How to use it: read the bulls-vs-bears case, then hit Score this career to weigh it against your other options with your own interests factored in.

CareerStar rating
RiskyLow uncertainty

Analyst take: Softer prospects — -1.6% projected growth, low AI exposure (23/100).

36
/ 100
low riskhigh
top row = high reward

Moat (borrowed from investing — the water that defends a castle): how shielded this career is from AI. Wide = well-defended — few automatable tasks, built on skills few other jobs have.

The small grid is a style box (borrowed from Morningstar’s fund reports): the blue square places this career on reward (top row = high) versus risk (left column = low), against all 730 careers. Low uncertainty means the score leans mostly on measured data (growth, pay) rather than forward-looking bets, so it's comparatively solid.

🐂 Bulls say
  • +Low AI exposure — resilient (23% of tasks exposed).
🐻 Bears say
  • Projected to shrink (-1.6%).
📜 Reality check — how the last forecast for this career fared

In 2014, the U.S. government projected +6% growth for this career by 2024. What actually happened: -26.5%. Reality fell short of the forecast — a reminder that every number on this page is an estimate, and this is how the last one aged. Full back-test →

Was this rating fair?
Projected growth
-1.6%
Median pay
$61,430
AI exposure
23/100
share of tasks exposed to AI — not job loss

Education & ROI — how to get here

Real outcomes for the college majors that feed this occupation, across 1,420 bachelor’s programs.

Median earnings
$35,610
1 year after graduating
Typical debt
$26,000
median federal debt
Pay-to-debt
1.4×
first-year pay ÷ debt
Feeder majors
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and MethodsIndian/Native American EducationTeaching English or French as a Second or Foreign Language
Selective schools offering these majors
Vanderbilt University
TN · 6% admit rate
$89,590/yr
$91,565 grad pay
Swarthmore College
PA · 7% admit rate
$84,103/yr
$80,257 grad pay
Northwestern University
IL · 8% admit rate
$91,250/yr
$89,363 grad pay
New York University
NY · 9% admit rate
$84,374/yr
$82,509 grad pay
Middlebury College
VT · 11% admit rate
$85,880/yr
$76,310 grad pay
Boston University
MA · 11% admit rate
$86,285/yr
$83,238 grad pay

Earnings & debt from the U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard; majors mapped to this occupation via the NCES CIP→SOC crosswalk. A grounded ROI snapshot, not a guarantee — pay varies widely by school and specialty.

What this work involves

teachingpeoplecommunication