I am very concerned about the future of our profession

I am an experienced high school English teacher. I have been in the classroom for over 20 years, and I do love my job. But I am becoming more and more concerned about the future of our profession.<br><br>The behavior of students has become significantly worse in the last few years. I say and do the same things I have done my entire career but the kids are very defiant now. I could look past the constant talking, cell phones, and lack of effort, but it seems like incidents of threats and violence are also increasing. I have never had a kid threaten me before but it has happened several times recently.<br><br>Parents used to be my allies, but now they are often working against me. Now when a kid does something wrong parents usually blame me. They question my teaching ability, suggest that I am biased, and even accuse me of picking on their kid. I have had parents call me horrible names in front of classes full of kids. When parents behave this way in front of their kids it makes the kids think they can do it too.<br><br>The amount of time spent on duties other than teaching has grown exponentially over the years. We used to just teach our classes, grade, and maybe advise a club or sport. Now we are expected to babysit kids before school, at lunch, and after school. We are also expected to attend more meetings and professional development than ever before. New initiatives are constantly coming out that require us to jump through hoops and create countless documents. I very rarely have time during my workday to do things that directly impact student learning.<br><br>To make matters worse, the role of educators in society has shifted. We seem to be expected to take on the responsibilities of parents, social workers, and even law enforcement officers. Surely we can't be expected to do all of these jobs and teach at the same time. We don't get paid enough to handle all of these responsibilities and many of us aren't qualified for half of them.<br><br>Perhaps what worries me most, however, is that there seems to be a lack of respect for education in general. We live in a society where many people proudly proclaim that they don't read. Lots of people question the importance of education and many seem to think that teachers are "baby sitters" or "glorified babysitters." I fear that this lack of respect for education, and for educators, is going to be the downfall of our profession.<br><br>I hope I am wrong.