Teachers know things that parents, policy makers, education professors, and boards of education don't. They know how hard the job can be. They know how students react to a grade. They know how family dynamics and home life impact academic performance. They know how misguided policies impact the other teachers that they work with. "All the techniques you learn in your teacher prep classes work well with the compliant student." In their own words, seventeen teachers and administrators from the Northeast describe their work among their students. From teacher preparatory programs to dealing with national education reform, classroom technology, and boards of education, teachers reflect with brutal honesty the incredible things that they see and hear every day and every year in their classrooms and schools.