ABSTRACT
Those who have been high school or middle school teachers know that secondary school teaching is demanding work. They have taught 130-plus adolescents per day, have spent weekends and evenings grading papers and planning lessons, and have negotiated the competing demands of various stakeholders including administrators, community leaders, colleagues, and students. They also know that the profession is often perceived, both by “insiders” and “outsiders,” as being more than a job-instead, as a way of life or a “calling.” A teacher is defined as an individual who should go above and beyond the call of duty for the benefit of the young people with whom he or she works, with no expectation of extra reward, much less even adequate compensation.
