Teachers: Talking Out of School

``The professionals who spend their days on the front line of battle'' speak out in this compilation of teachers' views of their work. More than 150 of them across the country were interviewed by Collins and Frantz ( Selling Out ), husband-and-wife journalists, who found a wide variety in the stories and experiences recorded here. While expressing the sadly familiar complaints about the lot of underappreciated teachers--low salaries, oppressive administrators and intractable discipline problems--most of them remain generally idealistic and convinced that they can make a difference in their students' lives. Their suggestions for improving our schools underscore the need for teachers to have an influence on education reform programs. (Oct.)