Teachers wonder, why the scorn?

I've had some good teachers but just a few. Mrs. smith and Mrs. McQuire, my first anf sixth grade teachers were outstanding. Mr. Caldwell, my eighth grade teacher was a saint.

Miss Hefner/Mrs. Carlisle/Miss Hefner, my seveth grade teacher was the devil's wife and so mean he couldn't stand her. Oh, and let's not forget Mr. Jones would litterally kicked my ass while I was drinking from a water fountain and broke one of my teeth.

There have been a couple of other good teachers like Mr. Hefner (no relation to my seveth grade teacher) who taught ninth grade English. My only problem with him is that he made fun of me for reading Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer in front of the whole class. My junior year math teacher was a good teacher and was my senior year math teacher.

My second grade teacher wasn't good at her job, or at least didn't seem so to me and most of the others are non-memorable except for Mr. Barrett, my junior year science teacher. I'm not saying he was good or bad but he did seem to like me better than I liked him.

And then there was this Dean at Sam Houston State college (now University). I received my draft notice while I was in school and had to drop out and go into the military. The school informed me that I would be issued a final grade based on my current average since the semester was almost complete but one Dean was livid and said I had to take a test in order to receive a grade.

He handed me a technical manuel 5,000 pages long, gave me two days to read the book, and was to take a 100 question essay exam and would receive the grade for the semester based wholly on that test score.

After serving my country for four years I wanted to return to scholl and finish that degree but was blocked from doing so by that very same professor who still held a grudge because I had talked to the dean who overrulled his decision about that ridiculous teat.

I've meet many a teacher who had a poor command of the English language and what is happening in New York is beyond mind boggling. There are over 4,000 teachers not allowed to teach but who can't be fired because of union rules. In this economic crises NY is going to have to let go several thousand teachers but it can't be the ones who aren't allowed to teach but will come from the ranks of the most recently hired.

I understand the need for certain protections. The tenture system was set up to allow a teacher the freedom to say things that a nontentured teacher who probably get fired for but I just don't believe a tenure should allow a professor or teacher to do weird things and excape discipline.

If schools and teachers did a good job, then why is our educational system lagging behind many other countries?