Love them as teachers and for how they teach my kids.

Get annoyed with them when they complain about how hard life is, money, etc.

Don't get me wrong. I think society underpays them. But there are some serious perks. My FIL was a high school teacher in Arizona and Utah from 1976-2008. My observations:

1) He had the entire summer "off." Like many teachers, he worked a different job in the summer to bring in extra money. But he had flexibility. My wife grew up doing all kinds of two and three week road trips around the country--incredible family memories. When she married me it took her some time to adjust to the fact that I couldn't just take a month off in the summer and expect that my career would ever go anywhere. Her experience was literally that everyone has summer break.

2) My FIL has a lucrative pension that will follow him around until the day he dies. Like 90% of his salary when he retired--he is on about his 15th year of retirement. Even he will admit that for all the money struggles he had on the front end, the back end has been easy street. My in-laws live very, very comfortably and basically spend their time travelling, eating out, etc.

2b) My FIL retired at 59. Not bad. A lot of people can't pull that off. The way some teachers talk, you'd think they have to grind until they are 70.

3) My FIL would roll in at about 4:00 every afternoon during the school year. I realize part of the reason he could do this was that he taught for 30 years and didn't have the same level of preparation that a new teacher has--he got to the point where he just recycled his curriculum year over year. But man, many days at 4:00 it feels like my day is only half over. If I am home by 7:00 in the evening, it is a pretty decent day. Dinner was at 5:00 and my FIL was at the head of the table.

My point? Some teachers will have you believe that they are persecuted and disrespected. I would challenge some of that, especially for those who choose to make a career out of it and not just dip their toes in for a few years.

All that being said, I value teachers enough (the good ones) to up their pay.