This article appears as part of the Lessons to Learn newsletter.

To be fair, teaching has never been the right job choice for anyone looking for an easy gig.

In seven years as an education reporter, I have become increasingly aware of a knowledge gap in the world of education that doesn’t get much attention: the gulf between how hard being a teacher actually is and how hard non-teachers think it is.

Many people seem to think they have an inherent sense of what it’s like to be a teacher. Maybe it’s because we’ve all been through school and seen countless teachers go about their daily jobs.

But as students, you only get a fleeting glimpse into the life of a teacher.

Classroom teaching is only part of a teacher’s responsibility, and the extra duties are growing constantly.

All of this was on my mind this week as I read a letter from an anonymous newly qualified teacher.

The letter begins with a familiar sense of hope and idealism that drives many people to the classroom.

Then it quickly came back down to earth.

The letter describes a range of horrors - being threatened with murder by students, being lied to and manipulated. For all that teaching has been made more complicated by technology, testing, tight budgets, and bureaucracy, the most depressing development in recent years is the rise of violence in schools.

These incidents are so common that they have fundamentally shaped the life of a teacher:

“Safety, once a given, is now a question. I have witnessed teachers being hit, chased, and attacked. I’ve seen pupils fistfight in corridors, bully classmates, and openly disrespect every member of the school community — from senior leadership to janitors to visiting contractors. The environment is........

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