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In their own defense, teachers point out that their job has changed dramatically over the past 25 years. Increasingly, they are asked not only to provide a good education but also to address ever more complex and diverse social problems. Drugs, sex, violence, broken homes, poverty: today's classroom is a mirror of the crises that afflict the U.S. as a whole. Even the children of two-earner, middle-class couples can suffer from lack of attention, if only because neither Mom nor Dad has the time or energy to help with homework or attend PTA meetings.
Add to that the burgeoning population of students from non-English-speaking households, and the teacher's primary task -- to convey knowledge -- can become nearly impossible. "Society has taken the position that teachers ought to succeed with everybody: the economically disadvantaged, racial minorities, the handicapped," says P. Michael Timpane, president of Teachers College at Columbia University. "No one took those issues seriously a generation ago."
While responsibilities and demands have multiplied, teachers have seen little increase in the financial or moral support they need to do the job. Overcrowded classes, inadequate or outdated equipment and long hours are common. At the same time, in a panicked effort to improve their schools, many states and localities have added new and often burdensome course requirements, typically without input from teachers. "Traditionally, teachers have been treated like very tall children," observes Mary Futrell, president of the National Education Association (NEA), which represents 1.6 million schoolteachers. "We are not perfect," concedes Baltimore elementary school teacher Kathlynn Jacobs. "But people need to walk in our shoes before they criticize."
"It sounds a little bit like English but there are too many 'hochs,' " notes a junior at Chicago's Farragut Career Academy High School.
The subject is the epic poem Beowulf, which English teacher Daniels has tried to bring to life with a recording in Old English. But the school's tape recorder has an ill-fitting plug, and Daniels cannot get it to start. After several attempts, she asks a visitor to hold the plug in the socket. "This is one of the worst things about teaching in the city," she says. "Nothing ever works."
When the guttural words begin to emerge, Daniels, 50, passes around a paper with lines from the poem on one side and the modern English translation on the other. Since there is just one sheet, only a few students see it before the recording ends. An overhead projector would have helped, but the one assigned to the English department is as unreliable as the tape recorder.