You need to understand teachers never develop

my god... I hate to disillusion you and disagree with the copious amounts of data you have obviously accumulated on the social/emotional development of teachers. However, I 'm an English teacher who has traveled, lived in foreign countries, is a parent and wife and has an acceptable amount of friends. I think my inter-personal skills have somehow managed to creep out of the dark caverns of my sociopathic mind and we're all doing quite nicely thank you. May I also point out to you, not all teachers go into teaching straight from school. I was in my late twenties before I became a teacher and society by then, had taken pity on me and acknowledged my pathetic existence.

Your attitude simply and completely makes my point. The majority of teachers talk down to everyone they encounter who may have an alterative view of them; treating us all like we're four.

You my dear are most certainly a teacher.

Those who can do ,and those who can't simply teacher and think they should be revered by all humanity.

I hate to point it out, but if your trying to criticize a english teacher, maybe proofread your last sentence.

Furthermore, if teachers are as you describe, who is properly trained to "teach" the youth and future of America?

I would be careful about casting aspertions with reference to "english teacher" considering that "America" is completely unfamiliar with the language.

And to answer your question considering the state of the youth in "America" today possibly anyone other than those doing the job currently.

Do you think you could be more specific about what you think the skills necessary to be a good teacher are? In my opinion, I think I'd prefer someone with a masters degree in their field teaching lessons to my children as opposed to lesser qualified candidates. I suppose I am thinking more about a secondary school and not elementary, do you think there is a difference?

Being a good teacher is more than having a degree. A teacher needs to have the ability to excite, create interest, make a person want to learn. There is so much dead-wood in the teaching community now; people who simply follow the Government mandated structure like robots doing a job. Students are losing interest and dropping out. It's a complex situation I know. It's society, parenting, teaching all contributing to a universal problem, but teachers spend the most time of each day with our youth having the biggest impact on students and many should find themselves another occupation.

Where does one start ? I do so hope that you're not a teacher: I've attempted for decades to defend the teaching profession, but it's become impossible. You wrote:

<<I hate to point it out, but if your trying to criticize a english teacher, maybe proofread your last sentence.
Furthermore, if teachers are as you describe, who is properly trained to "teach" the youth and future of America?>>

(1) "your trying": "Your" is a possessive pronoun (e.g. your book, your brain) whereas "you are" (or "you're" in the abbreviated form) is a verb. This is a somewhat basic grammatical distinction that most properly educated eight year olds will understand.

(2) "a english teacher": First, if you intend to use the indefinite article, you should understand that "a" comes before an adjective, adverb or noun beginning with a consonant, and "an" precedes an adverb, adjective or noun beginning with a vowel. Second, languages are always capitalised in English.

(3) "who is properly trained to "teach" the youth and future of America?" I do so hope it's not you, or you've just given him all the evidence he could ever ask for.