Northern Michigan’s Chad Phillips writes that teaching is a team sport, “My coaches taught me that practice wasn’t optional and that that we all had to ‘pay our dues.’”

Anyone who has ever played on a team knows that not everyone is a team player.  Eventually, some of those players will quit the team because they expect to get something, usually playing time, without “paying their dues.”  Those type of players are never really concerned about the greater good.  The same is true for a handful of teachers in every school.  Even after the quitters quit, the rest of us teachers will continue to educate our children, support our families, and pay our fair share.  In my mind, that is how you win at this game.

Read it all here.