Certainly, the last decade of education reform has substantially changed the work of many teachers, especially elementary, math, and English teachers in low-scoring schools. Many other teachers, however, have experienced education reform much less directly or intensely, and in any case many teachers are probably not as sensitive to those changes as Stephanie or Gary.
People also go into teaching much as they go into other professions: for a wide variety of often-complicated reasons. Some new teachers are looking to change or “defend” education, but
Last week at This Week in Ed I wrote that, contrary to some narratives, many people should still view teaching as an attractive profession: