[JTN]

I remember reading somewhere awhile back (though I don't remember where) that teachers actually make as much as or more than most professionals with similar educations when calculated on a per hour basis.

[Chanticleer]

In fairness, the hours they spend in the classroom are only a portion of their day. Many teachers spend evenings and weekends preparing and grading lessons as well as participating in extracurricular events.

My sister was an award-winning teacher in the gifted program in Alabama. Her life revolved around her students, and like many teachers, she spent a lot of her own money to supplement supplies for her classes. She ended up burning out and quitting the profession. The kids weren't the problem. Lack of parental support was part of the problem, but the main problem was dealing with the school administration.

[Gondring]

I remember reading somewhere awhile back (though I don't remember where) that teachers actually make as much as or more than most professionals with similar educations when calculated on a per hour basis.

That was based on the absurd notion that a teacher requires no preparation time, no grading time, no extramural professional development/continuing education, no personal funds to buy classroom supplies and instructional materials, etc. The problem is that the very low-quality teacher who doesn't properly do his job (by putting in out-of-classroom time, etc.), should be fired, but isn't. The problem is not the compensation side being too high--I nearly completed a masters in education, but the salary would have been half what I get as a professional--but rather it's the lack of weeding out the quality side.