Bhutan just made teachers, medical staff the highest paid civil servants.
The way it should be. Nice one, Bhutan!

The easiest way to learn a person's true priorities is to find out how they spend their money. Does it go to worthwhile things such as investments or charity or does half of their annual income go to paying for a luxury car?
The same could be said for countries.
In the United States, the highest paid public employee in just about every state is a college football coach. Currently, the highest paid public employee is University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban who makes $11.1 million dollars a year.
Alabama ranks 40th in the United States in teacher pay with the average teacher earning $50,000 a year.
New York state pays its teachers best, an average of $86,000 a year. The highest paid state employee in the state of New York is Dr. Gary Green, a Clinical Associate Professor of Health Science at SUNY Health Science Center at Syracuse who makes around $750,000 a year.
It's safe to assume most taxpayers would prefer their state's highest paid employee be a doctor rather than a football coach.
The people of Bhutan, a tiny country with a population of about 750,000 between India and China, have put their priorities straight by announcing its highest paid civil servants will now be teachers and medical staff.
The pay raise will affect a huge percentage of the population. "The numbers of teachers involved in the hike are huge as there are 8,679 teachers, followed by the medical staff who number around 4,000," India Express reports.
Taktsang MonasteryPhoto by plb06 / Flickr
The move isn't surprising for the majority-Buddhist kingdom. In 1972, the 4th King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wang declared, "Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross Domestic Product."
The isolated country rejected radio until 1973 and didn't receive the internet until 1999.
Teachers will see a very significant raise after the new law goes into effect. Those with zero to 10 years of experience have been given a 35% raise. Teachers with 10 to 20 years of experience has been given a 45% increase in pay, and those with 20-plus year of experience will see a raise of 55%.
Further raises will also be distributed based on professional performance.
Tshering (L) with India's Prime Minster Shri Narendra Modi (R) in 2018.via Wikimedia Commons
"If the pay revision comes through as proposed by the government, teaching becomes the highest paid profession in the country," a press release issued by the Bhutanese Prime Minister's Office stated.
The decision for the big raise was pushed by prime minister Lotay Tshering. Tshering was elected prime minster in 2018 and has developed the reputation of being a reformer and a man of many talents. During the week he helps run his country and on weekends he works as a surgeon.
"Some people play golf, some do archery, and I like to operate," Tshering said according to The Guardian, calling it a "de-stresser."
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There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."