I have an interesting perspective...
I worked in a school district for many years, and I'm married to a teacher.
You're hitting on what makes IT a questionable thing to be recommending young people to get involved with.
Those of us in the district's technology department worked many more hours than the teachers did. This is a pretty consistent story with IT workers in any industry.
You go home tired, and STILL have to find the energy to learn new skills your employer will use on your own time and dime. It gets old. When I was a single 20 something, and naive enough to think all that would pay off one day, I gladly did it. Now...not so gladly any more.
Why didn't the teacher know more about it? She has an established job. Her job, training, and certification are set up for that established job. Somebody else is paid to know about that particular problem. We could argue about whether that's the right attitude, but typically that's what special ed teachers are trained to understand.
There is a very established understanding of different disciplines in education. Unfortunately, and I tend to think somewhat intentionally, that understanding doesn't exist in technical disciplines. At least not as much as it should.
Heck, it even bodes the question of exactly WHAT should people be studying to stay ahead.
