An article in the New York Times today outlines the pros and cons of teachers selling their lesson plans to other teachers online, and there are decent arguments on each side, but we found one aspect kind of odd: the Times repeatedly mentions the vacations, home improvements, and other "extravagances" teachers buy with their lesson-plan money. You know, exactly the way they would mention all that stuff if these teachers were thieves or Bernard Madoff instead of entrepreneurs. It's bizarre:

"While some of this extra money is going to buy books and classroom supplies in a time of tight budgets, the new teacher-entrepreneurs are also spending it on dinners out, mortgage payments, credit card bills, vacation travel and even home renovation."

EVEN home renovation? Even? The article goes on to mention over and over the personal products and services upon which teachers are spending the money they make selling lesson plans of their own invention. It seems like, if this were any other profession, they would just say "They sell something, legally, and then keep the money, spending it on themselves the way they do their salaries."

Selling Lessons Online Raises Cash and Questions [NYT]