And I wonder if teachers were paid an adequate salary and were empowered to do their jobs, if there would be less adversarial interactions.
Excellent point. We're also getting a bunch of very passionate people for whom teaching is a calling, and then I hate to say mediocre folks because why would the high achieves go into a profession with such low pay? (I did but I'm a high achiever with the calling, so much the worse for my pocketbook.)
I do think the point about one tiny mistake costing you your career is a real issue. As a parent I want excellent supervision and care of my kids. As a teacher, the idea that dropping the ball for one second could mean the end--that's terrifying.
I agree, more transparency would help. Someday we'll have classroom webcams, right? :p I've had a few awful, awful parents trying bail out their kids who NEVER came to AP English, but the vast majority of parents are awesome, like their awesome kids!
