disparaging remarks made about teachers from kccougar. I think his point was simple. Good teachers deserve pay raises and bad teachers derserve to get fired. This is how it works in the private sector and seems to work pretty well. While your point of the challenges teachers face is valid, that doesn't excuse poor performance from some teachers. Every job has aspects of it that are challenging, those who rise to the challenge and make it work deserve to be rewarded, and those who use it as an excuse deserve to be fired.