In his New York Times blog, Proof, English teacher Alexander Nazaryan admits that teachers need a drink:
For the average drinker, alcohol provides mental escape, but for teachers that escape is physical, too—after spending entire days surrounded by children or teenagers, we are retreating to the one place that will be—ideally—certifiably child-free…
Unlike most other professions, this one drains you completely, refilling you with its own insular, infinite concerns. The intensity may ebb and flow, but it never disappears...Drinking together allows us [to] reclaim an experience that is too often defined by politicians, bureaucrats and reformers who have not spent nearly enough time in the trenches.