I also dated a 4th grade teacher at one point. And, she worked about 60hrs/week and taught summer school. The idea that all teachers are leeches and are to be scorned is absurd.
That is absurd, there certainly are plenty of excellent, dedicated teachers. My experience though, with the teachers my 2 children had through 9 years of public school, and the friends and neighbors I've known who are teachers, is that those are few - maybe 10-15% of teachers. My old neighbor told us bluntly she chose teaching (elementary) because she wanted a job with summers off, and so when she had children she'd be off when they were. She taught at the elementary school down the street from me, where the teachers left before the buses were gone (to avoid the slow traffic) and arrived 15 minutes before school. She didn't grade papers at home, she did them during her free periods or had her aide do them. I have a friend who would have been an outstanding, dedicated teacher, but when she was offered a job in our district teaching high school biology (she had degrees in both biology and elementary ed) she said no, she wanted to teach elementary. They've used her as a substitute teacher for over 20 years, but wouldn't ever give her an elementary job because she refused their offer. That's how life is, and I understand it, but hundreds of children would have been better off with her as an elementary teacher than they were with the drug-head my son had for 4th grade...