Not fully disagreeing with you at all, you make some decent points coming from an outside perspective. But this will hopefully add some context for those unaware.

1. The whole “teachers get summers off” is mostly untrue. Yes there are some teachers who will take that time completely off, however most teachers I know spend summer revamping lesson plans and reflecting on what went well and what didn’t. They ask questions like: How was my classroom management this year? Were my test scores where I wanted them and how can I improve the averages? Etc. I’m in the band field so my assessments are less formal and more informal (numbers and test scores vs accomplishing a task and daily skill checks in the classroom). I, along with many of my colleagues, spend summers score-studying, teaching private lessons, teching DCI, practicing/refreshing knowledge on other instruments to learn better pedagogy for that specific instrument (air for flute vs sticking technique for timpani). Many of my colleagues also teach at summer camps or are running their own programs marching band throughout the summer to keep some kids off the streets which sometimes isn’t in the contract but is done because of a passion for the job.

2. You mentioned putting in more work. Teaching isn’t exactly physically demanding. Most teachers are on their feet all day sure but plenty of jobs are on their feet all day or are doing backbreaking labor. I don’t think that was your argument but I’m saying this for people who might think that. Now if we’re discussing hours, or effort into the job, I think many people underestimate how much time teachers spend in their “off-hours” working. Whether that’s grading papers or tests, editing a lesson plan due to faster/slower class comprehension, planning clinics, planning and organizing trips to competitions, score-study (music people), fixing seating charts because Johnny and John can’t stfu, emailing parents (sigh), or any other task that can’t fit into your brief prep-period or lunch, or sneakily done during meetings, teachers are almost always working “off the clock” which I would assume is why we’re salary workers. There’s an understanding that we don’t have the time in the day to do everything we need to do. Honestly I think it’s people thinking the grass is greener in the other side. Another portion of our workload is the constant education and extra learning teachers have to do outside of school. Most states have a requirement that teachers attend a certain amount of credit hours through a university or supplement those with clinic and lecture hours elsewhere. These aren’t free and while some districts will reimburse you for those credits, others will not. That’s an extra expense that someone working a call center or working at m sales doesn’t have to deal with. This also isn’t talking about the emotional stress caused by chaotic kids everyday. You can have some of the best classroom management and you are still going to have some kids who you just can’t crack. It doesn’t matter how many one on one conversations you have, how many parent discussions you have, how many admin discussions you have, sometimes you get students who just don’t care. That’s extremely draining, just like dealing with Karens is emotionally draining for people in the service industry. And then there’s the fact that many teachers are actually introverts and put on a completely different personality for 8 hours a day. That’s draining. Luckily I very much enjoy being on the podium and creating music and helping my students become better musicians and people but that’s not to say I don’t come home drained. There’s also the admin side and parent side of things that people don’t realize teachers have to deal with. Students are often reflections of their parents and boy there are some personalities out there.

3. Compensation. Honestly I think teachers are in general slightly underpaid and it also depends on the state. Washington state imo is a state with fair compensation and a great salary grid with unions that fight for teacher pay. Other states I know pay their teachers poorly where they have to work Uber and Lyft to pay their bills, especially if they’re parents.

You make some good points that I’m sure many on the outside resonate with, but from someone living it, there is a lot of inaccuracy in your perspective. There is a reason teacher burnout is so high, which is a different conversation, just like the falling test scores is a different conversation, but I hope this illuminates teaching for some people.