What's the matter with teachers today?
Teaching is one of the most criticized jobs in America. What's up with that?
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ASAHEL CURTIS / WA. ST. HISTORICAL SOCIETY
At West Queen Anne Elementary School in 1914, arithmetic class was a simple exercise at the blackboard. Teaching was viewed as women's worth then - an extension of their role as keepers of societal norms. These days, the profession has become a favorite political target.
GIVEN ALL the talk about the importance of education these days, you'd think teaching would be the most revered job in America.
Forget what our CEOs with the seven- and eight-figure salaries do or don't do. When it comes to economic success, our fate seems to rest on our five-figure teachers. If they fail to impart the intricacies of algebra and physics and C++, we'll be overtaken by all those ambitious nations coming up behind us, fast.
It's enough to think we'd have fat bonus checks all written out and ready to shower on the teaching corps' best and brightest. And yet . . .
Teaching is one of the most criticized jobs in America. Our economic malaise? We lay a big chunk of blame on teachers. Our slide in the international test