Where do you think teaching ranks on a scale of difficulties encountered in fulfilling a contract?
“Teaching is probably the hardest job in America, perhaps the world,” said Michael Lannon, superintendent in St. Lucie County, FL and president of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents.
Newsreels of the battle of the Nazi Germans invading Russia is on the TV History Channel behind me. I hear unmerciful bombardment that continued for four days as I read Mr. Lannon’s words. The Germans captured over 200,000 surviving Russian soldiers before ripping through more Russian defenses in their march toward Moscow early in World War II.
Yes, teaching can be difficult for some people sometimes. Is it the most difficult for all teachers all the time?
Setting hyperbole aside, what empirical support might a teacher use during personal employment negotiations with a local education agency to support Mr. Lannon’s claim over, for example, difficulties encountered by military combat personnel, miners trapped underground, or years living with an abusing spouse? Should teachers receive more hazard pay (not base pay for the moment) than, for example, police officers or fire personnel?