In the State of California, an additional 100,000 teachers will be needed during the next 10 years to teach in K-12 schools (School Services of California, Inc., 2006), due both to population growth and the retirement of "Baby Boomers." This critical need to develop teachers in California will be mirrored in other states as well, and special attention must be given to assuring that these needs are met by an increase in ethnic minorities joining the teaching profession. This growing problem has been examined in previous research both nationally and internationally. In this article, the author suggests that the United States is in the midst of a professional epidemic which requires states, school districts, junior colleges, and all institutions where teacher credentials are recommended to take active measures to increase the number of ethnic minorities entering the teaching profession. Although there are programs throughout the U.S. that seek to create ways to recruit and retain ethnic minorities in teacher credential programs, a problem still persists of ethnic minorities who are not choosing to enter the teacher profession. The author examines this problem by employing a Likert scale survey with high school students who came from two distinct populations to understand why they do not choose to enter the teaching profession. This study shows that students from two distinct populations share common ideas about teaching. Most students believe that teaching is a profession worth considering only if other career goals do not develop. One reason why students feel that teaching is not a worthy occupation is because of the low level of teachers' salaries. When asked about a career in teaching after the surveys are collected, many of the high school students continue to share negative attitudes, but reveal that they do not know about the diverse career opportunities in education. Recommendations from this study are presented. (Contains 4 tables.)