Teaching _is_ noble because we’re doing something that benefits many people, and without which there would be no future of civilisation (or something). And we do it despite the myriad annoyances that adolescents can dish up.

HOWEVER, I do not deserve massive kudos for doing so. If I didn’t enjoy it, I’d be doing something else. Plain and simple.

HOWEVER, part of the enjoyment derives from the nobility (doing a good job for the express benefit of other people). So there you go; it’s not exactly straightforward, it is?

I like what you say about creating stuff. As a band director who has finally started learning how to teach a little bit, I finally get to be creative in what I do. My kids follow my lead and they respond to my stuff. It’s so cool hearing them play the musical stuff I have told them to do!

I agree with you to a point on the rest of the post. I think we don’t talk with other teachers about nobility just the same as professional athletes don’t talk to each other about how good they are at sports, or professional musicians don’t talk to each other about how great it must be to get paid to play their instruments all day long.

It’s just one of those things.

We know we provide a useful service, we mostly love doing it, and in a lot of ways, we get to live out our dreams in one way or another.

Sure there are hard times. A friend of mine says, “Life is hard; but it’s the hard that makes it good.”