I think it's funny... well, no, not funny, bizarre and awful is a better term... how people are suddenly demonizing teachers.

My roommate leaves for school at 6:30, and almost never gets home until at least 6:30 at night. He pays for all school supplies out of pocket, including snacks for kids (the school used to provide free breakfast and lunch, but had to cut back drastically due to budget concerns). Each day he comes home with another story- this day was spent getting a social worker on the phone, another day was spent because this kid has a definite learning disability and has simply slipped through the cracks, the rest of the kids just hit each other all the time, etc.

It's just really strange when you see people attacking teachers, because you just get the feeling that they don't KNOW any teachers. They have vague memories of seeming incompetents that taught them growing up, and that's it (forgetting, of course, that when you're a teenager all adults seem like they're idiots).

It's like there's the suspicion that teachers are in on this giant scam- they don't do "real" work, they get summers off, school's out at three... and they have the audacity to ask for more money?!

I just started with a consulting firm this year, make in the low 50s. My friend started in his first year with a masters, and makes mid 50s. I joke that he makes more than me, but I get paid way more hourly.