Are Teachers Professionals

Well, of course we are professionals. No, we are not paid the salaries of doctors, lawyers, or engineers. Stop and think about how those professionals were trained in their fields. There were many dedicated and hard-working teachers along the path to their professional careers. Corey Bower asked in his post, Are Teachers Professionals , two very important questions, "Are teachers treated less like professionals than people in equally or more prestigious jobs? Do people in other jobs have more autonomy or professional latitude than teachers?"

"Ultimately, teachers are supposed to follow the directives of their supervisors (after all, they can be cited for insubordination). The curriculum they must teach might be determined by central office folk (in NYC a few years back seating and bulletin board arrangements were suggested by them as well). They are usually evaluated by supervisors on at least a yearly basis. They're limited as to how they can deal with disruptive students by school and district policy."Isn't it amazing how despite all of these limitations, we still choose to teach. That is dedication!