Why is Walter White only a high school teacher?
I was never completely sure about what the full extent of his education is, but it is suggested that he has at least a Master's degree in chemistry from Caltech. He has extensive research experience with Gray Matter and Sandia National Lab, and was shown to be a respected chemist among the professionals at Elliott's birthday party. Even if he just has a Master's degree, he's well qualified to be a lecturer at a university
If he didn't want to go into academia, he could also easily be successful in industry. Why is he doing a job that he is so overqualified for?
He was a beta with an inferiority complex, he took a shitty demeaning job because he couldn't make himself look for something better. Same reason he took a part time job a car wash and not a hardware store or something respectable for a middle aged man to work at
However, it doesn't quit mix with the massive ego he's shown to have in the show later. It's really just a way to feel that he's pathetic without much more thought put into it
pride
If he works at a job hes overqualified for, he can still pretend hes too good for that job
I think the implication was supposed to be that he cashed out of Grey Matter early to support his family which he didn't plan on, but he would have been already in his thirties when Flynn was born so that timeline doesn't really hold up. IIRC Skylar was a fair bit younger so maybe he cashed out because he felt responsible for her when she got pregnant?
Could have also been that he dropped out of academia very emotionally after he felt Gretchen betrayed him and was suddenly caught without a job, and with a kid on the way he didn't explore other options until he'd already been at the school long enough it didn't make sense to start looking for a new job.
>>69211578
You need a PhD or be a PhD canidate to lecture/research at a university, MAs can do community college though
>>69211808
He says in the show he cashed out for a few months rent, IE at the time he felt like it was a lot of money, not for any particular reason
>>69211714
But a beta wouldn't have kinds of history and experience he had. He was on a team that won a Nobel prize. No betas with no sense of accomplishment would do that.
>It's really just a way to feel that he's pathetic without much more thought put into it
Probably, but it's beyond retarded. Why give him all those gigantic scientific achievements and then without any explanation downgrade him pretty much as low as he could get
My highschool chem teacher was a PhD with experience in industry. It's just where some people end up, I guess.
>>69211578
That was the only job available for him in Obama's economy.
>>69211891
Because he's an insert for the audience. Everyone wants to think they're too good for their current place in life, should be paid more, have a hotter wife, a bigger house. It's wish fulfillment to see this super smart guy doing a shitty demeaning job.
>He's just like me
>>69212014
I had a bio teacher that claimed to have worked in law enforcement out west, then for the government in water purification or some shit, then got into teaching. Everyone thought it was bs but he enjoyed teaching so good for him. Walt hated it though
>>69211578
having a masters/phd and ending up in education is the JUST of stem carreers
>>69212028
Bush was the president at the start of the show, friend
>>69212196
cuck
>>69211578
teaching high school is a much better paying job than lecturing at a university with a master's. most if your other points are valid though
>>69211714
>However, it doesn't quit mix with the massive ego he's shown to have in the show later.
It does. Narcisissism and secret feelings of inferiority go hand in hand. Walter White is the highschool slacker who insists that he's a genius but doesn't try at school because he's terrified he'll fall short of his own expecations. Better to not try, get a C, and complain that it's so easy for you you're bored, or in Walter's case get a shitty job and cling onto this seething resentment against the people who have wronged him/don't appreciate him.
Going into crime was his way of allowing himself to give a shit, because he could finally disassociate from that fragile sense of self. He has a new identity as Heisenberg and he's a big fish in a small pond. An actual chemist amongst a bunch of amateurs. He hated Gale so much because Gale brought back those feelings of insecurity.
>>69212824
I can see that. Good post
>>69212824
I accept this line of reasoning
>>69212824
I don't see it. Bad post.
I agree OP. They could have at least given a solid reason why he had to resort to teaching high school chemistry.
I know that my AP Chem teacher was some well-decorated chemist at one point, but she was blinded in one eye and partially blinded in another from an incident and thus resorted to teaching. I know she still had aspirations to at least become a principal even after all that, though.
>>69212824
No, the point is that he liked and respected Gale. They were "simpatico" Definitely are far cry from the Jesse who really didnt know shit about Chemistry besides cooking. The fact that he was working with and above an actual chemist made him feel like he made it.
>>69212824
Too much projection.
>>69213444
This. Walter hated that Gale had to go.
>>69213140
>They could have at least given a solid reason why he had to resort to teaching high school chemistry.
they did. it was cause he majored in chemistry.
most traditional science degrees (biology, chemistry, physics) are close to useless without a PhD unless you're really lucky or you like being a lab rat. math as well. Being a professor is kind of like last resort, and even then they won't take you without having research.
>>69213718
>Too much projection.
Not him. No it isn't, he's spot on.
It's not projecting when Walter really is a narcissist.
>>69213872
>It's not projecting when he was only half right
He becomes a narcissist when he sees how much better than the competition he is.
>>69211578
Because the show was poorly written and only believable to drug business plebs who never sold shit when they were younger and so don't understand how fucked Walt would have been irl the second he jumped into that game with no soldiers.
>>69213967
No he fucking doesn't.
He becomes a narcissist much earlier in his life, and way before the beginning of Breaking Bad, because that's how narcissism works.
Being above the drug-dealing-drug-addicted competition is only his _narcissistic supply_ in the first place.
>>69214139
Of course that doesn't mean that his mental health doesn't further deteriorate (from mild narcissism to full-blown NPD) throughout the series.
>>69211578
>Even if he just has a Master's degree, he's well qualified to be a lecturer at a university
Apology for bad English.
I'm not sure about America, but in my country in Europe you're better off as a high school teacher. The people that do lectures at University have to be at least a doctor or a professor, so with a master's degree you'd be stuck teaching seminars or labs or similar stuff, and this is something that some students from higher semesters literally do for free. I don't think you'd get paid much.
>>69212824
this isn't really expressed in the show though. it's poorly written shlock.
Other people have said it better, but Walt was just a pussy deep down who would rather stagnate in safety than take risks in a position that would challenge him.
Walt has a PhD I'm almost certain, some of the lines and dialog wouldn't make sense if people were going off of him only having a master's.
Still though, with his character flaw being unsatisfied with things it's doubtful that a successful career running gray matter would've made him any happier than being a drug lord. He would just be rich and miserable instead of his poor and miserable we see him as.
>>69214461
>Walt has a PhD I'm almost certain, some of the lines and dialog wouldn't make sense if people were going off of him only having a master's.
I remember it being stated that he dropped out before finishing his PhD. The impression I got was that he felt kind of betrayed by a professor and quit because of his own ego. It's stated at some point that he was part of a research team that led to a Nobel prize, so maybe he felt unappreciated or like his professor ripped his work off.
Walt had a history of quitting when things weren't going to way he wanted them. Like others have said, that's why he ended up in high school. It's easy to be a big fish in a little pond than to actually put in effort and have to deal with life.
>>69213984
Were you into drug business, Anon?
>>69211578
>and Sandia National Lab,
Shit, when was this stated?
How the fuck did he end up as a high school teacher after that?
>>69212402
lol no
>>69211831
This. You cannot teach at a university with a master's only.
>>69213967
>He becomes a narcissist
you dont become a narcisst in your later years...
you already are at let's say the age of 15.....
>>69215328
Being a "lecturer" at a university has no path to getting tenure. It's a big scam.
Why was he getting paid so badly he had to work part time at a fucking car wash? A teacher with 15+ years experience in a nice school board should be making respectable amounts.
>>69211578
Because otherwise there wouldn't be a show, that's the best answer you'll get for it. A master's in chemistry will quite easily land you a decent job. The 'he was too beta' argument is utter crap, he literally wouldn't even need to try hard to get a better job.
>>69215552
He has a soecial needs kid and lives in a nice-ish house, and public school teachers aren't paid much.
>>69214461
>only having a master's.
>only
>>69215552
>A teacher with 15+ years experience in a nice school board should be making respectable amounts.
I don't know where you are from but at a high school? Not likely.
>>69215382
wtf yes you can
>>69215552
He lived in a nice house and had a son who probably made the family rack up a lot of medical bills. And his wife didn't work.
American high school teachers don't have even masters degree? No wonder you're all retards.
>>69215328
lol yes
got a colleague with a phd in cs at my company, he does the lectures at uni as part time next job as personal favor for the prof (both are friends..)
>>69215382
yes you can,
the german word for it is "lehrbeauftragter"
i held tutorials my self back at uni when i was a senior student....
>>69215675
There's no point in getting a master's in STEM, especially biology and above. Even so, degrees are highly overrated in the current year, and things will just keep getting worse as more and more people are encouraged to go to college. I am currently going for my PhD in biochemistry. Bachelor's degrees are useless because 99% of people in college are retarded and just devalue degrees. Masters don't really have a place in STEM, at least not for anything involving research or science. PhDs can also be retarded, especially if they're not from a white country. I've had to work with postdocs who couldn't measure a liter of water, heat something up to 37C, or who would just break glassware like it was a daily requirement.
>>69214340
Yeah. It's not spoonfed to you. What about it, chummmm puh?
>>69216053
You might be right but you're misusing the term STEM. You're talking about sciences like biology, chemistry, or physics. But STEM also includes engineering and technology, which people generally study to get a job in the industry and make 6 figures (ideally), not to end up as an underpaid researcher. So they wouldn't get a PhD.
Because the writers thought it was a good idea
>>69211831
Retard detected.
>>69215552
Teachers in general don't make more than $40kat the most
>>69211578
Some people burn themselves out and don't want anything to do with academia any more. The real life analogue to Walter White is one of the guys who co-discovered green fluorescent protein (GFP). Despite his work actually utilizing GFP for the hundreds of uses it has in biology now, his colleagues won a Nobel Prize but he didn't. He wound up driving a valet car for a rental company or something. Walter's scenario isn't that unlikely, in fact I think he was probably modeled after the guy...didn't a deleted scene in Season 1 show a plaque for "contribution to Nobel Prize winning work" or something?
Don't forget his Nobel Prize!
>>69211891
You obviously haven't grasped the meaning of the word 'beta'.
>>69211578
You need a PhD to teach in universities.
>>69213444
Actually, finding another chemist in the business, especially a legitimately meek and uncool nerdy guy like Gale, ruined Walt's power trip because he realized this was all he was, despite all his illusions of grandeur. He wanted to be a badass and he initially thought he could get there by being a great chemist in the meth business, but Gale was a contradiction to that.
>>69216053
Not true
At least in CS, pretty much every research position requires a Master's or Phd in a related subject.
I got a job doing research for eye tracking algorithms, thanks to my master's in Computer Science. Having 100+ pages of published research in a related field will go pretty far in an interview.
Maybe if you decided to not write a thesis.
