Think about it. Imagine you're a 5th grade English teacher, just starting out. Maybe you have the class read "Romeo & Juliet" (Board approved) your first year. The questions from the class are brand new & fresh to you. Year 2, the questions are pretty similar to the first year. Year 3, you try to change things up, the Board shoots down switching to "Catcher In The Rye" (themes are too adult for such young, impressionable minds), but "The Grapes of Wrath" is approved. New questions from the class, new ideas, things are fresh again.
Repeat this a few years - questions become old hat. Always arguing with the Board about what is "appropriate" for 5th graders. Maybe you've even gotten complaints from parents about the curriculum (too hard for my kid, too "racy" for my kid, etc.). You're missing something, but you can't put your finger on it. What seemed like a profession where you could make a difference seems dull and repetitive.
Did you have a favorite teacher in grade school? Did you ever contact them later in life to let them know they mattered? People in the "trades" can point to a finished product and say, "I did that!". A teacher rarely gets to see the outcome of their work unless one of their students gets in the news (which can be good or bad).
My Grandfather started teaching in a 1 room schoolhouse (rural Illinois) in the 1920s and retired from teaching science at private school in Chicago in the 1970s. In retirement, he volunteer taught at a school for developmentally challenged kids. Even after his passing, he received letters and visits from his students, thanking him for his work. I think that, in part, was what kept him going into his 90s, knowing that he had made a difference. Not every teacher gets that kind of welcome feedback.
