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As a high school teacher I completely agree. As to those who think that we are payed too much, I ask this: In your profession, have you ever had a student stand up, yell directly down at you (he is the size of a man at 16), and threaten to hit you (I am a 5'5" woman)? Oh, this student has also spent time in jail. He has recently been arrested on federal drug charges. He will probably be back in my class in a couple of months.

I want to tell you that this student is not the only one like this. I can't do anything about him other than send him out of my room (or have him forcibly removed) because according to the loony left, every child deserves an education.

What is my mental health, and life, worth? $36 and hour? By the way, I teach at an average school, not an inner city school.

"In your profession, have you ever had a student stand up, yell directly down at you (he is the size of a man at 16), and threaten to hit you (I am a 5'5" woman)?"

Perhaps you should consider a career change. Loggers do not have students come up to them and threaten to hit them. Possibly that is a career for you to consider. Neither do those in commercial fishing. Or agricultural workers. You could become a closed shaft miner. Maybe a start a career managing a convenience store.

Admittedly all of those careers require longer hours than teaching. They also pay much less than teaching -- and all have a much, much, higher mortality rate. In fact, of the ten most dangerous professions in the United States only one -- airline pilot -- pays more than teaching.

And please, no intellectual superiority stuff either. Dummies don't last long in those careers. Do something stupid and you are unable to continue your career. Do something sufficiently stupid and you do not get an opportunity to pursue any other careers -- think of it as evolution in action.

You may not have to be a brain surgeon to be a logger or a fisherman, but frankly there are a lot of teachers that are not exactly the sharpest knives in the drawer.