The Fire Rises. And it is time for the voices of teachers to be heard. "I find it fascinating, and a bit insulting," confides Frank Stepnowski, the iconoclastic author of Why Are All the Good Teachers Crazy and S.C.R.E.W.E.D., An Educational Fairytale, "that so many people feel so enabled to criticize teachers. Folks get their homes repaired multiple times, but they don't automatically think they could be construction workers, plumbers, etc. People and their family members undergo surgeries and visit hospitals, but they don't instantly assume they could be doctors. I could go on and on and yet, because they went to school, or have children in school, legions of people feel like they know what it is to be a teacher. They're wrong; and the evidence is in both the children they send us, and the fact that they stand idle, ignorant to so many "educational" decisions being made about our children that could irreversibly damage future generations." Teaching Sucks - But We Love It is an unapologetic retaliation to those that would blame teachers exclusively for the ills that plague modern education, a wake-up call to the uninformed masses, and a love letter to those good teachers that continue to fight the good fight in the face of nearly insurmountable odds, in a nation that seems to increasingly devalue their importance.

STOP WAITING FOR SUPERMAN AND LISTEN TO CAPTAIN AMERICA
The year is 2012 and the President has passed The Absentee Parent Act, suddenly making parents accountable for the academic and moral shortcomings of their offspring Legal guardians everywhere turn to the places that have been raising their children for years - the schools. Alas, our current educational system is a farce, a fact suddenly of great concern to the soon to be punished parental population. Meanwhile, in a New Jersey classroom, a frustrated teacher has an epiphany, and soon T.E.A.M. (Trust in our Extreme Alternative Methodology) schools begin to spread across the country, providing the kind of common sense instruction, uncompromising discipline, and political incorrectness that other schools wish they could employ. Of course, no good deed goes unpunished, and an army of antagonists line up to challenge this Brave New School; but Frank Stepnowski, aka: Captain America, and his dedicated band of teachers will not go quietly The battle lines are drawn, and comedic chaos ensues. With a delightfully demented cast and enough metaphoric mayhem to power a bulldozer aimed at the educational status quo, S.C.R.E.W.E.D. is another perfect storm of fury, fun, and foreshadowing from the gloriously twisted mind that gave you "Why Are All the Good Teachers Crazy?"

This book belongs on the desk of every teacher in America
A refreshingly honest look inside the teaching profession, Why Are All the Good Teachers Crazy? is a captivating collection of hilarious stories and unreserved observations from one man's odyssey in the classroom. With equal parts humanity, insanity, and profanity, Frank Stepnowski, a twenty year veteran of the academic wars, offers unique insight into a world everybody knows about but very few understand. "Step" as he was re-christened by his students, pulls no punches in the classroom, and takes no prisoners in his writing debut. The title, which comes from a line that the author heard many times throughout his career, is both a confession and a confirmation. "I wanted a book," he explains, "that would make people laugh out loud but also open their eyes to just how insane the teaching profession can get. With that in mind, the book is a riotous success, providing searing insight into the classroom and giving an iconoclastic voice to a profession that often goes unheard. Why Are All the Good teachers Crazy? is a wake up call for some, a rallying cry for others, and an invitation to laugh and learn for everyone.
Based on actual events, the vivid imagery, colorful characters, and incendiary dialogue of this nuclear powered novel will take readers on a roller coaster ride that they will be talking about long after the ride is over.