I taught in a small teacher’s college for three or four years, at which point all the administrators got a pay raise and the teaching faculty didn’t.

Eddings is describing a common academic grievance: institutional rewards flowing upward to administrators while frontline educators see little benefit. The remark implies disillusionment with bureaucratic priorities and suggests a turning point—an experience that helped sour him on academic employment and made other careers (including writing) more attractive. Beyond personal complaint, the quote gestures toward a structural critique of higher education: the perceived mismatch between who produces the institution’s core value (teaching) and who captures financial recognition. Its plain, anecdotal tone underscores how mundane, not dramatic, events can catalyze major life decisions.