A reflection on this topic...
My favorite teacher in my entire school career, including the four years of college, was my industrial arts teacher in 8th grade. He was a hard ass, but he was great, and we made beautiful furniture in that shop. Well, he and I did. Everyone else was making bookends.
If I could put up with the low pay, and pencil necked jerks that ran that junior high school and beat my ass with a paddle, that would have been my dream job...
...only I don't think students today are the same as we were in 1969. I'm guessing they are worse.