before taking the schools job in 2002 -- isn't waiting around for talent to appear. 11 was the last ...

1. Some professionals bail out of finance and into teaching
before taking the schools job in 2002 -- isn't waiting around for talent to appear. 11 was the last big
moment -- cause people to look for work that has meaning to them," says Tim Daly of the New
Teacher Project, which recruits teachers nationwide.
Tristan Rudgard spent 20 years in finance in London and New York -- most recently at Morgan
Stanley. In 2002, for instance, Teach For America saw applications nearly triple.
"These big moments -- and I think Sept. Klein's pick: George Raab, a former managing director at
Bear Stearns, the failed investment bank.
. "I hope we'll get some really great people."
Klein, himself a career-changer -- he was CEO of Bertelsmann Inc. "It's both surprised me and
enthused me."
And a lot of old Wall Street friends, he says, are "ringing me up and asking me about details of the
program and the training I took."
Many observers say they're hearing of friends and colleagues -- or the children of friends and
colleagues -- who, like Rudgard, are hunting for teaching jobs.
"We'll get more applicants as a result of what's going on," says New York City schools chancellor Joel
Klein. Last August, he finally filled the schools' long-vacant chief financial officer job. But many say it
could end up having an effect similar to that of the aftermath of 9/11, which drove thousands into
teaching and other service careers. "The turmoil in the market, I think, has opened up a lot of
possibilities for people in terms of options they would consider professionally," says Elissa Clapp,
who directs recruitment.
A large shift to teaching is by no means a sure thing: For one, the meltdown is forcing school
districts to cut costs. "It's personally very much more rewarding," he says. I'm not an economist, but
in my mind, the country would have been better off if some of them had gone into K-12 or college
teaching."
At Teach For America, the prestigious program
that taps graduates at top universities, the
percentage of trainees who majored in
business has grown to 10% as well. But the
economic meltdown -- as well as the sight of
his children, ages 6 and 8, going off to school --
changed everything.
"I started to think about what my options
were," he says. "I'm 42 years old and I asked
myself, 'Can I really take another boom and
bust?' "

2. He trained last summer as a Teaching Fellow and noticed "at least a half-dozen" Wall Street
acquaintances training with him.
Last month, Rudgard began a daily A-train commute to Harlem to teach ninth-grade math at Bread
and Roses Integrated Arts High School.
Looking for a silver lining in the financial meltdown? How about this: Your child's next math teacher
could be an absolute whiz.
It's too early to say for sure, but a few observers believe public schools could be the beneficiaries of
a brainpower shift from the trading floors of Wall Street and the hedge funds of Greenwich, Conn.,
to classrooms nationwide.
This fall, for instance, New York City's Teaching Fellows program, which trains career-changers to
work in city schools, saw the percentage of applicants listing "finance" as their current job rise to
10%, up from 6% in 2006.
"As I've been trying to think of silver linings, that's the only one I've come up with," says Allan
Taylor, a Greenwich attorney who chairs the Connecticut State Board of Education.
"We've taken some of the strongest mathematical minds and sent them to figure out computerized
stock trading programs