Treatment of Teachers?

We have been discussing this a lot lately in class about how teachers are treated and held to such higher standards in other countries than in America? The question is why, just because a teacher is not operating on someone to save their life does not mean a teacher isn't important. In fact I think I could argue that a teacher is just as important if not more in some cases. Who had to teach the doctor to read when they were young or help them learn fraction,s a teacher. So if that teacher hadn't helped that child how could he or she have become a doctor or lawyer? It all stems back to a teacher, everyone at one point and time in their life has had a teacher even if they didn't go to a public school and are home schooled their parents then assume the role of a teacher. To me this shows that a teacher 's job is just as important in America as any other professional job and should be treated that way.

Not only are teachers educating our children they are helping form and shape the next generation. Teachers spend more time on average with children when they are younger than parents do in a school week, which means they have more influence on that child. That being said I think this proves just how important a teacher is they are bringing up the next generation of doctors, lawyers, bankers, or any other professional. Without good teachers this could not have happened, so shouldn't we be respecting teacher for all that they do and the time that they put in? Unlike a lot of other jobs teachers don't get paid for overtime, many teachers at least the ones that go into the profession to help students will stay after school when they don't have to. They stay to help students understand a topic better or review for a big exam. The teacher doesn't get paid overtime for this they do it out of the goodness of their heart. Many other jobs that are considered high paying professions, the individual would get paid extra to stay after.

To go along with my points as to why teachers are so important to our society and should be treated as equals to other professions I found an article written in the Washington Post. This article talks about how a long time ago teachers were given the opportunity to be treated as professionals in earlier years and maybe it is up to teachers themselves to start to act like they are up their with the professionals for them to get the same respect as these individuals. What do you guys think?
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-07-18/national/35236384_1_professionals-teachers-test-scores