I&#039;m actually thrilled with the job security I have. I would never complain about that. My bills get paid on time and I have a little left over. That&#039;s wonderful, and in a down economy, it&#039;s become a rare privilege. I love my students very much, and I wouldn&#039;t change professions for anything. But why are there so many teachers, you ask? Because so many people are foolish enough to think that this job is easy, and many districts are making the error of laying off teachers and increasing class sizes for those teachers who are still employed. A lot of those teachers you mentioned are older ones, because recent studies show the attrition rate of new teachers (0-5 years in the profession) at 17%.

That said, though, while I did choose to become a teacher, the fact is that those of us who do our jobs well get lumped in with others who don&#039;t, hence the negativity. I didn&#039;t become a teacher right out of grad school. I went through the corporate world, and there was LESS bureaucracy there than in teaching! I appreciate it when people want to improve my performance. My problem is when people who know nothing of pedagogy want to tell me how to run my classroom and teach my students. Do you know how often that happens? It&#039;s Monday morning quarterbacking at its finest. Teaching is a job with a different set of rules than those in the business world. 

As far as telling people how hard we work, it&#039;s because we&#039;ve been told so often how hard we DON&#039;T work. I&#039;ve had people call me a liar over some of the stories I bring home from my job. My job doesn&#039;t end when the bell rings. And I accept that, along with all the other things that are particular to this profession. My professionalism has never suffered. But when there&#039;s a movement toward charter schools and away from public education, when calls for &quot;fire the teachers&quot; have become a national battle cry, that&#039;s when I get angry. We&#039;re getting blamed for the downfall of America because China&#039;s and Finland&#039;s students are more advanced.

I&#039;m well aware of what&#039;s happening in the working world. My own family has been affected by outsourcing and layoffs. I have students who have no food, no money, and some are becoming homeless. I get it. But the trend in this country has been &quot;suck it up and deal with it&quot; for a while, and personally, I&#039;ve had enough. I&#039;m quite happy at my job, with no intention of quitting. But that doesn&#039;t mean that I don&#039;t have the right to vent on occasion.