Why are teachers masochists?

I have been in the teacher certification program for about 5 months now. Currently I am observing a sixth grade class once a week and have a fabulous supervising teacher. It is one of the highlights of my week. I just love teaching.

Then I go to my university classes. My professors bore me. They can't teach well and yet they are the ones tasked with making me an excellent teacher. One professor brought in an article entitled "Texas's testing system forces higher dropout rates". Guest speakers bemoan the standardized testing system now in place in almost every state. They tell horror stories about parents, alcohol and drug abuse and pregnant teenagers. Other students in my teacher training program complain that their supervising teachers are burned out and just like to deride their pupils.

Why is this? Why are teachers so pessimistic, so masochistic? The first day, in a fit of brilliance that has yet to be equaled, my professor proclaimed that only teachers and the clergy aim to make a person better. Most other professions just aim to keep the status quo. So, here we are training for this noble profession and most of the current teachers can't stop spewing vitriol. I believe that for whatever reason, it has been allowed to become teaching culture. No nurses are given articles on how some patients still die, no architects told that some buildings collapse and the rigidness of building codes are reasons to frown. Sure some nurses hate their jobs and some architects are pessimists but usually it is not so. Teachers are a different breed. This includes my university professors that instead of inspiring hope, inspire fear of a warped educational system.

My take is that there are problems in any profession. Patients do die and building codes are a pain to deal with. But, when I enter that sixth grade class tomorrow morning, I know that there are lives that can be changed, futures to be brightened and interesting lessons to be taught, even about history . :) I thank God that I am blessed with a courageous supervising teacher who doesn't follow the depressing pattern that so many teachers fall into. Doctors restore people to health, teachers change the future everyday.