Having graduated from Howard County public schools, it is my opinion that teachers are the most overrated professionals, ever. Many teachers have otherwise worthless liberal arts degrees that leave them little other professional opportunities, and many are only teachers for the nice benefit of having the summers off. Throw in labor unionization which gives them higher pay and benefits than they would otherwise receive and they get a pretty sweet deal.

There's hardly a single teacher who puts students' education ahead of their own personal gain. Were that the case, teachers would support school vouchers.

Dawn, if teachers are "grossly underpaid" it sure is interesting that there is no teacher shortage. In fact, many teachers around the state would kill to be working for the gravy train that is the HCPSS.

I can honestly say that having spent kindergarden through 12th grade in the HCPSS, there was not a single teacher I encountered that in any way made a difference in my life. Sure, my experience is anecdotal, but I'd be surprised if many others have had wildly different experiences.

If they are so grossly underpaid, why do those teachers continue to work there? If they are so valuable, why don't they find jobs with pay more representative of their skills and community value? Alternatively, if they are in this just out of the kindness of their hearts, then money doesn't matter, right? Surely they went into this profession knowing the general pay scales offered and decided that it was fair in exchange for the work.

I did have one stand-out teacher, who aptly referred to most teachers and classes in HCPSS as "mediocre."

H.R. Pufnstuf continues the usual ignorant trolling that has long been his or her MO. Anytime someone points out the obvious factual inaccuracies and logical fallacies, H.R. disappears until the next chance to troll the topic.

Keep grinding that axe, troll. I'm sure you have a few people fooled, but anyone with a brain capable of critical thinking knows your rhetoric is illogical and unfounded.

As one student in 13 years across 60-70 schools that have educated thousands, I'm going with Pufnstuf is the anecdotal evidence for HCPSS teachers not caring. Or that he made the decision he didn't care & put blinders on to those seeking to help him. And thanks for saying people with liberal arts degrees, which is not a blanket statement in regard to the HCPSS school system, are useless. I went to private school for 12 years, but the opportunities my daughter has in HCPSS are better than mine were. Her teachers, however, exhibit the same high degree of dedication my teachers did.

To bring this conversation back to the original question -- your favorite subject or teacher: I'll share. My favorite subject was English and my favorite teachers were Mr. K and Mrs. Ricks--both English teachers. I went to a small school in Iowa. I hated math and gym class.

Sorry, Lisa, but I've got to respond to Puf - I thought you said liberal arts people worked in schools? BTW, I have TWO degrees - one in accounting & one in history. I had the freedom to do that. The writing experience I got in history was often put to use in my accounting career. I will encourage my daughter to excel in both the liberal arts & STEM - well-rounded thinkers is what this country needs. Science researchers need the ability to write grant applications.

But back to the original question - my kindergarten teacher (in public school) was Miss Hacker. She encouraged my creativity & writing when I would draw houses. I was obsessed with drawing houses. She would draw the story out of me to help me round out my story with detail & color.

In high school, though, my favorite teacher was Mrs. Boring, my history teacher. Her encouragement to look at arguments on both sides and read ambiguous texts has helped me throughout my accounting career, reading tax code, financial standards & legal documents.

But you miss a major point...all learning is important. The pursuit of knowledge is what our kids are missing. And working with respected professors isn't exactly the same as writing a blog. Btw, I didn't pay any tuition. :)

The pursuit of learning is important because it encourages people to investigate. You obviously missed something in your "education" because a broad education should provide the tools to research. It's about asking questions, doing research, gathering statistics. What question is interesting? Does the amount of carpeting in Finland versus the US have anything to do with the level of allergies in the US? What is it about the culture of the 2 countries that has driven that? If in fact, the lack of carpeting in Finland has contributed to a lower incidence of allergies & related respiratory infections, what are the barriers to changing that in the US? How does the level of medicinal treatment correlate between the 2 cultures? If one is better than the other, how do we implement public policy & use social media to accomplish the goal?

Progress involves a lot more than a lone scientist in a lab having a five-second AHA moment. Encouraging interest in a range of subjects is not a disservice. When you cut off someone's interest in life at age 10 by telling them they won't get a job is a disservice. Or that if they don't go to college, they're a failure? Under your scenario, an IED specialist who has served in Iraq is useless because that's not a "marketable job skill to lead us out of our economic downturn" since that's "spending money of taxpayers."

Um, you do know what an IED is, right? An improvised explosive device? What I was saying was that I wouldn't ignore all of our veterans because they specialized in disarming IEDs in Iraq. A lot of them never "majored" in anything. And a lot of them died. So, while you may leave it there, think about the veterans who have lost their lives while not majoring in STEM or liberal arts.

No, you're missing the point - there are a ton of people who don't have degrees that are IED specialists. And there are a lot of veterans that return home and don't have JOBS.

Since I have been the culprit of encouraging Puf, I do want to bring this to a better conclusion. My guidance counselor in high school - I had a rough time choosing college because certain things were in my parents' custody agreement. Mrs. Wood helped me lay out the pros & cons of my college decision & judge things less emotionally. She took the emotion away & focused on helping me make the decision apart from my parents' tug-of-war.

Some of my favorite teachers -- and there were a lot, each of whom made a difference in my life: Mrs. Clark (music teacher at Running Brook Elementary); Mrs. Lopez (third(?) grade teacher at Running Brook Elementary); Ms. McManus (music teacher at Wilde Lake Middle); Mr. Sankey (math teacher at Mt. Hebron High).

My fourth grade teacher at Lisbon Elementary told us that the Noah's Ark was discovered in Russia, but the Russians were keeping it secret. True story.

My favorite teacher was a vo-tech teacher that cared about what I wanted to learn. All other teachers before him cared about what they wanted me to learn. Huge difference!