Again, I was responding to another person and the point they raised. The painting of all teachers with a broad brush is out of context. As far as seeing the entire picture, no one sees the entire picture. It is impossible to do so. But, I see much of it.
Teachers have a bureaucratic nightmere to deal with. They don't get support from the administration, an adminstration that is as likely to side with the student as with the teacher.
Also, teachers complain they are not paid enough when in fact they are amoung the highest paid people in society. Some teachers are so out of touch with socio-economic reality they try to justify their salaries by pointing to an oil company exec that was paid $400 million.
The school system has become a cesspool for every social cause, with every group under the sun wanting to preach to the kids on social issues. And then we have testing, that some schools approach as something that the kids must survive rather than something that must be tackled.
In short, I responded, did not first forward the debate. I can understand my coments being taken out of context since I did respond to the wrong person. But, that said, let's not take them out of context.
There's an interesting discussion of teachers' salaries here. It's a long read, but it also points out that some teachers are "overpaid" and some are "underpaid", and tells why.
I was unable to find the report referenced in the article comparing the salaries of teachers to those of average state workers (although I found a number of references to it), but maybe someone else will have better luck than I.