Accuracy of the Media's Portrayal of Teachers

I think one thing that the media has right is that the quality of teachers varies from teacher to teacher. Teachers are portrayed as silly, aloof, incompetent, concerned, caring, selfless, competent, knowledgeable and influential. I have to admit, that looking back on the teachers that I have had over the years I can think of at least one that could be described by each of these words. However, I think the media portrays teachers in a negative light more often than a positive one. I don't think this is fair. I would consider the majority of teachers I have had as having been good teachers. Only a very small number of my teachers have been horrible, and some have been just 'ok.'

A surprising number of images I have found portrayed teachers in a very sexualized way. I think this is way off. I know that there are cases of sex scandals involving teachers, but these are not as prevalent as the media would like us to think. Furthermore, I don't think it is all that often that students have crushes on their teachers, especially at the elementary level. Most teachers do not resemble the teachers that are portrayed in these sexualized images. Even in high school I didn't know anyone who had a serious crush on a teacher. Most teachers looked like our parents which made people consider them as 'old.'

One thing I am left wondering about is the amount of student involvement that is common in most classrooms. I have been taught that it is not best practice to teach in a way that limits students' interaction with each other and learning activities. However, most images of teachers portray them as being up at a chalkboard, very far away from students. The students have a very passive role in these images. I wonder which best represents how the classroom is run, best practice or these images?