Woundweavr said: "Until this year, every teacher was over 49 (two were 50)." And? All teachers who've reached that age must be unskilled or burnt out? Several of the best teachers I ever had were nearing retirement age -- they'd lasted that long because they enjoyed teaching and they were good at it. Those who burn out often do it much earlier. (I'm 27, incidentally, so it's not like I'm defending my own age group here.)

"I am a senior and a brain. I can walk out of a class without an excuse. Yet I still have to show." I'm sure you're quite intelligent -- I know I've always liked your writeups. But I teach university classes, and encounter a lot of students who coasted on their brains through high school and didn't think they needed to show up for class, now that they were out of high school and could get away with it. Boy, were they often surprised when they got their midterm exam grades back!

(Added after reading Woundweavr's reply: Yes, I remember the same situation in high school where stuff didn't require much effort in some of my classes. However, classmates in the same Honors and IB classes were struggling -- some of my best friends were jealous of how little time I spent doing homework compared to them. It may be just that it's impossible to teach a class that will be on everybody's level, depressing as that thought is.)

SB5 said: "Another reason is that high school is also full of immature, disobediant, adolescent, imbeciles. The third reason that comes to mind is that there are a few teachers that actually care for their students, and even treat their students with respect." Gee, you wonder why the teachers don't respect those "immature, disobedient, adolescent imbeciles"? I like my job, I care about teaching my subject, and I respect the students I have who have a mature attitude toward the work they need to do, but so many don't, even though they're in university and supposed to be adults. It's hard to respect someone who sits in your class paying no attention or who you don't recognize because they only showed up once a semester. Instructors try to do our jobs and some students put us down for it because they happen not to think the subject will ever be useful to them. The students who care often don't speak up. (And just think, I have the worst of them filtered out because they didn't go on to college. Imagine how frustrating teaching high school must be!)