My dearest darlingest pseudo-niece commented earlier on Facebook:
If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn’t want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher’s job. ~Donald D. Quinn
To which I responded:
On the other hand, doctors have to deal with querulous old people, squalling babies who can’t tell them where it hurts, hypochondriacs, people who read sites like WebMD and think they know exactly what’s wrong with them (a little knowledge is a dangerous thing), and drug salesmen, not to mention that they don’t get paid for a lot of work till Medicare decides to arse itself and pay them six months after the fact.
The door swings both ways 🙂
UPDATE: A friend of hers chimed in after I commented. The friend’s considered response was to tell me I didn’t know what I was talking about and to shut up. Twice. (In so many words.) My response was that anyone who uses “shut up” as a debating point has lost the argument.
Your analogy is not entirely accurate. After Medicare gets around to paying the doctor, and the doctor pays all the overhead, the doctor is lucky if he makes as much as the teacher. And the doctor’s overhead costs don’t wait until Medicare decides to pay him. And the doctor doesn’t get ten paid weeks off during the summer.
Accurate enough to drive a young teacher – who thinks a diploma and four years in a school of ed gives her expert status on her profession – to tears. I think my work there is done.
People like that need a beating.