RE: Not the brightest

Alan-
Where did you read that anyone is seeking "the brightest" as teachers?  Was it some political slogan about seeking "the best and brightest"?  No one is seriously doing that.  

Very few intellectually gifted people I have met have the other gifts necessary for teaching in the public schools.  They also tend to like challenges of a different order than one finds in public schools! :-)  Many are also rebels when it comes to conventional thinking, and the bureaucracy would not tolerate that for even a month.

To teach well, one needs a very good education oneself, a strong sense of humor and appreciation of the absurd, true enjoyment of children -- even in large groups, enormous patience (with the students and with the bureaucrats), a touch of idealism, and a true desire to become an excellent teacher.