This is a terrific article, wherein an art teacher explains how it feels to be constantly pilloried while doing your best for children who love you.
The teacher wonders what he/she did to ruin the economy for everyone else while sitting in a little plastic chair with small children.
And much to the amazement and consternation of the critics in the media and on the Internet, this teacher is unbelievably beloved and appreciated and rich beyond the imaginings of those who envy teachers.
True, you can’t pay your mortgage with psychic income, but it helps to protect against the slings and arrows of trolls and vipers.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Tony Danza agrees. See this interview about his book and his experience at a Philadelphia high school:
Failed reality show ignites a passion for education
from the Philadelphia Inquirer
Before he took to Broadway as a song-and-dance man, before he kept house in Who’s the Boss?, before he helped make sitcom history as addled boxer Tony Banta in Taxi, Tony Danza wanted to be a teacher.
Nearly four decades after earning a degree in history from the University of Dubuque in Iowa, Danza finally got his wish with the A&E reality show Teach: Tony Danza, which had him teach sophomore English at Northeast High in Philadelphia for the 2009-10 academic year.
http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20120913_Failed_reality_show_ignites_a_passion_for_education.html
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I’m watching the show online. It should have been a documentary, not a reality show.
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That makes my day.
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Another interview with Tony Danza:
Extra Credit
A local teacher talks to Tony Danza about teaching in the city’s public schools.
from Philadelphia City Paper
“In 2008, I was both excited and petrified to start my first year in the Philadelphia School District — and at the orientation for new teachers, I found myself sitting next to Tony Danza.
The star of Who’s the Boss? was filming his first year for a reality show, true, but he seemed just as nervous as the rest of us. He’ll read at the library this week from his new book, I’d Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I’ve Ever Had: My Year as a Rookie Teacher at Northeast High (Crown, Sept. 11), which details the heartbreaking, mortifying (Danza is incredibly honest about the multiple times he broke down and cried) and beautiful moments he experienced in his year here. They’re moments I recognized.”
http://www.citypaper.net/cover_story/2012-09-13-tony-danza-extra-credit.html
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Wow….incredible!!!
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Perfectly articulated. Love, love, love it. Thanks for the share, Diane.
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I worked with dozens of teachers. Many of them could have written the linked article on this post if they were willing to be so open.
The high school students I worked with would have summed it up this way, if they could have addressed even one of your detractors: “Don’t be a hater.”
Who says wisdom only comes with age?
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I have wonderful teachers who write my posts every day!
Your students’ advice is sage: “Don’t be a hater.”
I know some folks who need to hear that. They are posting comments all over the Internet to their shame. Except that they are almost always anonymous.
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Excellent piece.
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This is my article!
This has been a very intense day.
When I woke up this morning, and checked my phone, my friend had sent me this link.
I am gratified to see that something I wrote a year ago still rings true to so many.
Sadly, one of the children in *that* photograph died tragically a few days ago. They buried him today. The mother begged me three times to speak at the service, but I had to refuse her, because my administration has scheduled me for a disciplinary meeting with my union rep for I don’t even know what, and I am afraid of taking too many sick days, and giving them more ammunition.
So, while getting emails and messages and page views all day, I have had a heart full of grief, and a stomach filled with worry. This is year nineteen, and if I make it to twenty without quitting or getting fired it will be quite a feat.
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Great piece! The passion and angst we all feel as teachers was well conveyed. Hang in there! We need more teachers like you!
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