I agree that there are reasons someone would hate school, but it doesn't make sense for it to be a cultural norm to say that to teachers. No one ever says "wow you murder people for Uncle Sam for money?" to someone who was in the military, they say "thank you for your service". I think that's what the author was getting at. It's not just low pay; teaching is thankless, even looked down upon.
Bet the victims of the US military aren’t saying thank you for your service. It doesn’t even matter if the person isn’t directly responsible, they still dedicated their time and energy to the system. That’s the difference. It’s thankless because it’s awful. It’s the exception rather than the rule to have a teacher that made a real difference, and the most common difference teachers make is protecting kids from harm they wouldn’t be experiencing if not for school.
Exceptional teachers help kids survive, not thrive.
It's a chicken and egg kinda problem. People who on average don't have lots of motivation or other options go to teaching. They then get burned out by the chaotic classes, low pay and thanklass routine. In turn they on average do a mediocre job (or less) of educating and teaching, which causes the students to pay even less attention and show less respect...which causes the teachers to get more burned out...anyway I think you see where I'm getting at.
