Welcome to the game of painting with a broad brush. I've also heard of bankers complaining that their compensation is just plain insufficient...

Although I think this is true of many (most?... all?) jobs, one thing I very rarely hear is teachers saying that they love their job or that they have a great job, which makes me wonder why they all stay in the profession. You'd think that workers with so many skills and so much dedication would have no trouble getting a job where the conditions were good and they enjoyed their work.

Maybe you only hear teachers complaining because gushing about how much you love teaching to your colleagues sounds fatuous.

@wrtngtchr I hear people from lots of other professions say it often. But strangely I don't hear it from teachers. Why don't the other professions find it fatuous?

Wow! This is my 3rd school in 11 years, and at all I could say that the vast majority of us are thrilled with our jobs; we talk all the time about what a privilege it is to work with kids and how fun our job is!

I love my job.

I left a 30-year career in business management to become a classroom teacher. I don't know Mr. Navarrette or where he works. I feel sad for him. He does not have the privilege of working with colleagues like mine. I get to work with people who show up for work an hour or more before their contracted time and often stay later. Why? They are collaborating with each other; finding the keys to unlocking the potential of particular students. They are contacting and meeting with parents to solve problems and praise successes. They give up more than half of their prep time to help struggling students master math skills. They volunteer for after-school clubs in the areas of homework help, technology, science, reading, and writing. Professional Development dollars have been cut, so they meet among themselves to improve teaching skills, encourage young teachers, and learn new ways to use our available technologies. Complaints? Perhaps you could say they complain. They wonder why some administrators want them to teach using identical methods when our students each learn differently and we are each different as well. They wonder why some administrators push for the efficiency business model for education when it squelches creativity and inspired teaching. They wonder why some administrators want all of our classrooms to look exactly the same, bland and sterile. We are proud to be public school teachers. We thrive on teaching our students to love learning. By the way, I don't prepare my students for the Ivy League. I prepare them to work hard, learn well, and be kind.