anna379,
You may want to read the threads after Ning's post on this article...
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=182955
Just to summarize my story, I do optician-like work in California, although I'm not schooled or licensed in opticianry. From what I understand, it's a licensed profession in California, but Optometrists seem to be free to hire anyone they want (such as I was). My starting salary was $9 -- although my doctor told me she would have started me off on more if her's wasn't a new business that's still not meeting overhead. Although she also mentioned that she knew that $9 was low for a person with a B.S., but that's really all she could afford. So I'm not sure if their starting salary would be higher than that simply for being an optician.
I would say it's DEFINITELY a good idea for learning about optometry. I had no idea what spheres, cylinders, and axes were all about until I started working at my office. See the post I mentioned for further details.