HOW MANY times have you seen a sweatshirt emblazoned with If your house hasn't collapsed, thank an architect or Fair divorce settlements couldn't happen without your lawyer? Lawyers and architects don't need silk-screened slogans to remind public of their worth; their value to community is measured by fees they collect and respect they receive. Teachers, though they're expected to be martyrs to cause of children and are required to continually develop themselves professionally, get no such respect. In its place, they get limited autonomy and a fraction of salaries of other professionals. No wonder teachers need a bumper sticker to remind us all: If you can read this, thank a While definition of professionalism can be elusive and its elements are subject to debate, some features would be common to any definition. For one, public accords a certain respect to professionals because of their special skills and knowledge. Professionals exercise discretion in making decisions within scope of their expertise, and they assume some authority for their own professional development. Are teachers professionals, and, if so, in what sense? Certainly, principals, superintendents, department chairs, and officials in state departments of education have considerable input into defining authority of teachers. The culture of school and school's response to outside pressures also determine how professionalism applies. Many teachers perceive an erosion of their professionalism since A Nation at Risk appeared, and they have felt that erosion accelerating since No Child Left Behind. The number of teachers who leave field within three years speaks to demanding nature of profession and helps to explain why voices of teachers are so often silent. Kristine, second author, made it for 11 years as a solid and conscientious teacher. Sure, days were challenging and students could be exhausting. But what ultimately drained Kristine was feeling that she was not considered a professional but was looked on more as a suspect cog in a broken machine. Jonathan Kozol, in a commentary in Education Week, lists some common reasons for high attrition in teaching: the systematic crushing of ... creativity and intellect ... threatened desiccation of ... personalities, and degradation ... of self-respect. (1) While rhetoric in Kristine's district assured everyone that teachers were professionals, actions and climate said otherwise. Myriad factors contribute to this climate so contrary to teacher professionalism: poor funding, poor parenting, overstuffed classrooms, low-quality teachers, and expectation that school should be remedy for all of society's ills. Here we focus on a specific issue that undermines profession of teaching: pace and content of a teacher's daily schedule. It points to real problem of education: incomplete superimposing of a factory model. The typical teacher's overcrowded daily schedule explains why teachers are seen as taking little initiative in profession. Who has time to worry about larger issues of how professionalism is perceived and where it is going when there's barely time to use restroom during day? Exhausted teachers find it easier to let politicians' agendas take control of their lives than to resist and assert their professionalism. Those who enter teaching because of its mythical cushy schedule--seven-hour days and summers off--quickly learn puzzling truth. As standards for high-quality teachers have risen, level of professionalism has declined. Subjected to increasingly close scrutiny by administrators and other far-removed bodies, teachers are not permitted to rely on their own intelligence and initiative, a prerogative routinely accorded to practicing professionals. Instead, they are asked to document how they use their time. …