Sometimes the teachers get worn out, too.

For the last several years (I have taught 35 years) I taught six classes but with five daily preparations (at the high school level). That is quite taxing as the school district wants you to look up the appropriate state standards and incorporate in your lesson plans.

I get one 40-minute planning period to plan five different lessons each day. When do I correct tests? Whenever I assign homework, I check each answer myself. When do I prepare the assignments for the suspended or ill students? When do I contact the parents? When do I get to go to the bathroom?

Sometimes the teachers get worn out, too.

"Sometimes the teachers get worn out, too." Thank you Garry!! I just finished my first year of teaching high school English in a district with some pretty challenging adolescents. While I absolutely love my job, summer is definitely a time for teachers to renew themselves, mentally, physically, and emotionally. It is a time to read, to learn more about educating and to create new materials. Summer is the only way that I know I will be able to return in late August refreshed and ready to take on another challenging year.

Also, we have to remember that comparing students in the US to those in other countries, such as Japan, where they apparently go to school for over 260 days a year, is not exactly comparing apples to apples. Japan weeds out all the "challenging" students early on and what's left is only the top academic performers. In the US we educate EVERY student, regardless of academic ability, disability, etc. There is a huge difference there!