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Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Teachers Feeling 'Beat Down' As School Year Starts : NPR

Teachers Feeling 'Beat Down' As School Year Starts : NPR

Teachers Feeling 'Beat Down' As School Year Starts

As students prepare to begin another school year, their teachers are hopping mad. They're facing layoffs and deep budget cuts and many say they're tired of being blamed unfairly for just about everything that's wrong in public education. They're so mad that many are bypassing their unions and mounting a campaign of their own to restore the public's faith in their profession.

Betsy Leis, a middle school teacher in Florida, is one of these angry teachers.

"I give my heart and my soul to every single student in my classroom and all I see on the news is that we aren't doing our job. We're constantly beat down. That's why I'm angry," Leis says. "I don't