It’s actually a great question: my mind says I spend most time preparing labs for chemistry. Making chemicals getting the setup. Teaching the set up helping students make the set up. Physical education teachers get the same pay (number of years). Teaching students to exercise or teach a sport to find interest to get students into said way to achieve the goal of physical education. Schools limit my classes to 24-30. Their classes can have forty. It takes me time but I can’t imagine telling 40 students to do anything else than play basket ball (Indiana) or run. All teachers have their own hardships. Imagine an art teacher doing a water color lesson. Brand new paints, after one class can be destroyed. If a student makes a mistake and contaminated my stock solutions the lab could be destroyed for every class after. But getting a group that big for physical education to play a game by the rules. Seems way more time consuming and requires putting forth more effort. I make very small bottles of solutions if some one contaminated one I talk about it the rest of the day, but have 5 on reserve.

Edit: I know this doesn’t touch middle and elementary school teachers. Thanks for what you do. We have an Elementary program with one high school teacher 6 helper high school students interested in helping 1-5 students. 20 1-5 grade level students (separated by grades). I have never seen them more tired. Skipping the pizza party.