Many who choose a career in teaching view it as a calling, a chance to shape and influence future generations and provide a hope for a better tomorrow for those students who come to class.

The World Bank produced a report Monday that urged developing countries to not focus on building elite institutions, saying countries are better off focusing on the educational needs of local communities.

Jill Biden, wife of the vice president, spoke out in favor of the American community college model, pointing to it as a an example developing countries could follow in a telephone interview with the New York Times.

"Community colleges are the way of the future," she told the Times. "Now with people losing their jobs, they're a great place to go for new training."

The New York Times reports that there are almost 1,200 community colleges in the U.S., with almost 12 million students.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were almost 1.7 million post-secondary teacher jobs in the U.S. in 2006. That number is expected to top 2 million by 2016.