If Dan (real name) is great, P and Q (not real names, masked genders, hence alternating between his/her) are terrible. They represent the worst kind of teachers. And in both of their cases, they've been teaching for years.

P is the know it all. P wouldn't be successful on her own, if he didn't work at a school. The reason this the case is because she likes her classroom because of the power bubble it creates. Inside that room, he makes all the rules. No one can question him. This power makes her feel special, masking an otherwise sad life. He uses this power to ask and answer questions, and make teenagers feel stupid for not knowing. P says, "Alex, do you know why April 16, 1927 was so important?" Alex says no. P responds, "That's because you don't know anything, and will never amount to anything." Alex sits there. Finally, Alex blows up and P gets Alex suspended. He goes to the teacher's lounge talking about how bad children are getting, uses her exchange with Alex as proof, and gets sympathy from other bad teachers. Meanwhile, Alex debates dropping out and spends his suspension wondering why am I bad?

Q is P's opposite, but he his her partner in missing the mark. Q is "successful" because she hasn't been fired. Q outlasted all the administrations before him, has been in many schools in the district, and is pretty much untouchable by the union. He is very well meaning, and willing to go above and beyond for his students. Unfortunately, this means giving answers to her students on tests, making their assignments way too easy, and thereby making students think they are dumb. Q will be in class with another teacher, and right after the teacher explains something, Q will dumb it down, way down. He thinks he's helping, but the students are confused. They easily understood the teacher's comments and instructions, but this older teacher made them feel like they didn't get it. I must be slow, the students think. Another part of the problem is that Q had success a long time ago, and very good success with a few students. Thus, Q always refers to his success in all meetings, "Well, when I helped Alex with her assignment, she ended up in college." The problem is that Alex is now 40, has five kids, and Q hasn't had that type of success since. Unfortunately, though, Q doesn't realize this. To her, the "Alex story" is present day. And since he did it with Alex, then he can do it with more students. In fact, she's so success, she should train many student teachers, lead many workshops, and take any leadership role. His place there makes all these things worse and everyone waits for him to retire.

P and Q have each taught thousands of people. Every year, P has made people think they are bad and Q has made people think they are dumb. No one stops them.

This must stop.