What profession was once highly respected, but is now a complete joke?

Link Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/82630j

[–]rdight21
Bank teller used to be a foot in the door to the finance industry. Now it's basically 20 year old, credit card salesmen.

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[–]VictorBlimpmuscle
Town crier - used to be a respected official who was the source of news and information for all the townspeople, but try walking up and down the street ringing a bell and shouting out the news at the top of your lungs now and see how much respect you get.

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[–]TheDevilsAdvokaat
Teaching isn't a complete joke yet, but it isn't what it was.

There was a time when people respected teachers; they might be the only person in town with a degree. They made ok money and sometimes even got a rent-free residence to go with the school. They were respected and looked up to.

Now degrees are much more commonplace, and many jobs pay better than teaching.

Some people think teachers are under achievers: "you have a degree in math or physics or chem, but you teach? Guess nobody wanted you. You must have been on the low end of the scale."

Also, if you're making 100K or even 1000K or more (and some people do) it's hard not to look at someone earning 50k or even less and not think of them as a loser...especially if they also have a 100K study debt.
I'm a teacher myself. I like teaching, especially kindy kids.

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