DEAR ABBY: Now that you have come to the defense of school bus drivers who complained that, like Rodney Dangerfield, they get no respect, how about doing the same for substitute teachers, who also get no respect?
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We are expected to maintain order and promote learning in a different classroom every day with different kids who are accustomed to different rules.
But the hardest part of our job is the abuse we have to take from some of the students.
Most kids figure that a substitute teacher is fair game, so they push us as far as they can to see how much they can get away with. If we get fed up with rotten behavior and send the troublemakers to the principal's office, we're considered incompetent because we can't control the kids.
When it comes to getting no respect, a substitute teacher takes first prize. -- MOVING TARGET
DEAR TARGET: Obviously, times haven't changed much in the last half-century. When a substitute teacher shows up, there will always be kids who will try to see how much they can get away with.
However, the most competent teachers -- and the ones we remember best -- are those who demand the best from their students and put up with no nonsense.