The latest Harris Poll has Firefighters, Scientists & Teachers at the top and Bankers, Actors & Real Estate Agents at the bottom of their “Most Prestigious Occupations” list. This poll has been referenced in many articles on the internet. Here you can see the actual results from Harris.
It is not surprising that teaching is such a coveted job. Just look at the picture and see if you can spot the teacher’s pet?
Brian Brady says:
2 out of 3 people think that real estate brokers and bankers have “some prestige” or greater; I can live with that.
November 30, 2007 — 12:59 am
Benn says:
The top tier are all positions that are non-profit if you think about it. Very little glory, but great personal return. I too put the teacher, firefighter, millitary, and even the farmer in a class of personal sacrifice. I’m not sure if this pole means anything, or says anything we didn’t already know. My position for sure is not more relivant than a teacher.
November 30, 2007 — 7:50 am
Allen says:
That is a really funny picture. It appears that Little Johnny, I presume, is the one flipping off the camera? Very funny, but very sad! I was a teacher in public school for about 6 years. I loved the job. Very rewarding, but also impoverishing. For being such a prestigious profession, nobody seems to value it, judging by the renumeration. I think the reason people recognize teaching as a “prestigious” profession is because it’s a vitally important function in our society, and yet is woefully underpaid. In this case, prestige is being confused with sympathy.
November 30, 2007 — 8:20 am
Brian Wilson says:
Thanks for the laugh, Russell. Where do you find this stuff? 🙂
Brian Wilson, Zolve.com
November 30, 2007 — 9:05 am
Lane Bailey says:
My Dad was a teacher for about 30 years. He made a pretty good living (time on the job, Masters Degree and a Doctorate will do that for you). To hear the parents of the kids he failed… no so prestigious…
I don’t want prestige. I want to know that I made a great living while helping people. The only ones that matter to me are my clients and those I deal with.
Oh yeah… Thanks Hollywood for making sure that every time you show a real estate agent, they are stupid, greedy, and lazy…
November 30, 2007 — 10:03 am
Cathleen Collins says:
During the 80s Dress-for-Success days, working at a Fortune 500 subsidiary that was sort of a brokerage between pharmacies and consumers, I made a name for myself revamping the Pharmacy Audit department and was offered a promotion running operations of the subsidiary that was sorta like a brokerage between attorneys and consumers. One of these polls on public perception of professions had just weighed in: Pharmacists were saints and attorneys worse than sharks. The pharmacy side of my shop teased me about the types of people I’d be working with, but after having uncovered as much fraud as I’d seen in the past year, the attorneys I worked with were breaths of fresh air. Public perception is contrived, usually by mainstream media. The truth is in the individuals. As mainstream media relevance is overshadowed by social media, individuals will come to learn the truth about individuals. Huzzah!
November 30, 2007 — 10:29 am
Vicki Brannock says:
Russell,
Thanks for the direct link to the poll. No surprises, I doubt we will ever be in the firefighters category but it begs the question, if we are so disliked why does everyone want to be us (-:
November 30, 2007 — 10:54 am
Chris says:
I’m not in real estate to be in a “prestigious” profession. I’m in it to make money, Americans like winners and respect winners. I rather have respect.
November 30, 2007 — 1:55 pm
Jeanne Breault says:
Two observations:
1. Look how high we were rated in 2005!
2. Where are the used car dealers?
November 30, 2007 — 10:12 pm
Sam Chapman says:
I think Little Johnny’s new nicknamd just became Mr. Finger.
December 1, 2007 — 9:45 am
Robert D. Ashby says:
Why you complaining? At least you made the list.
I didn’t see either of the professions I am in there. That’s right, mortgage broker wasn’t there (no surprise), but airline pilot I would have thought would be there, but it isn’t as prestigious as it used to be either.
December 1, 2007 — 12:15 pm
Cathleen Collins says:
You’re right, Robert. Our favorite marketing maven reminds us of the universal annoyance with junk mailers/spammers, yet they’re not among these numbers either. Maybe the questionnaire forgot to mention some professions. Oh, wait, but wouldn’t that skew the results?
December 3, 2007 — 10:48 am