<p>anxiousmom, I know how stressful the job is because my mother was a teacher. I do know what chocoholic is talking about. I would think that most of us have seen a few bad teachers. These are teachers who are reading a newspaper, shopping on ebay fairly regularly, talking with their class about anything other than the subject they are paid to teach. We had one who had no control of her classroom and she would cry in front of her students. I felt very sorry for the last teacher I mentioned. Then there are teachers that go beyond the call of duty. I have seen some giving a ride home to one of their elementary school students. Frankly, in today’s world it could be seen as inappropriate rather than extemely kind. I wouldn’t do it, but this teacher has done this. My own son became ill on an overnight class trip, and I cannot tell you how well they cared for him. I have seen teachers actually buy several thousand dollars in textbooks so they could have the classroom that they want. I have seen teachers buy little gift items for struggling elementary school kids as motivation. Teachers have voluntarily stayed as long as an hour after school to help reteach my kids on occasion, when they could have been tutoring someone who was paying them afterschool. So there are good and bad out there, and these are some of the extremes in our middle class neighborhood. This applies to all professions, IMO.</p>