Shorbe,

It appears we are close to agreement on many of the things we have typed so that is sometimes just how it is.

I know many teachers, mainly in the State system and they do lots of work at home. Even in their free periods they are still on call to attend to students who require their services and then take mountains of marking home as well. Ask a seniors English/History teacher about marking.

I'm not really sure that as a student teacher they see the real conditions in the Education system. They see a snapshot but it is only when they are in the trenches that they see the real Education System.

Everyone has an opinion on teachers and yet from my experience they are a dedicated, hard working lot who don't get the thanks they deserve. In what other industry do you hand your treasured children over to someone to educate them and correct the mistakes we (the parents) have often caused in the kids.

Recently my daughter got an OP1 (Qld) in her HSC results and we wrote to both her High School and her Primary School teachers to thank them for their efforts in helping her to achieve those results. The Primary School was so pleased for the recognition that they placed the letter on the front page of their newsletter.

It appears that Primary School teachers very rarely get thanked for the excellent work they do, and very rarely hear how their students have progressed.

To all the teachers out their I thankyou for your hard work and wonderful efforts.

Opinionated2: Maybe the systems are radically different here, but I worked in a government school in the U.K., teaching only A level subjects (last two years) and sure there was marking and so on, but it wasn't unmanageable. I guess we're just comparing anecdotal evidence though.

Yes, being a teacher is a unique profession, but I think there are plenty of other professions that are just as special. I'm just not that inspired by most of what I've seen in the education system or most of the people I did my training with -- most were middle of the road, but hardly inspirational. I've only met a few polymaths or truly gifted teachers I think, and I've met plenty who were borderline brain dead or actually had some outrageous ideas about education. Yes, most teachers might care and they might work hard at what they do, but so do most other people out there. One thing that does make teaching strange or difficult is the poor behaviour of students, and even parents, that most other professions wouldn't have to put up with. I think that really needs to be acknowledged and sorted out.

I'm glad your daughter had a great educational experience, but dare I say that a large part of that may have been to do with your home environment and also her as a person?

A teacher is considered as back bone of a nation.But teacher is also a humanbeing;he/she has aspirations like other professionals.His/her demands should have to be given as importance as others by policy makers of the country.