Singapore here. If Dan Rather has been reporting that the teaching profession is held in high esteem here, then Dan Rather hasn't really been checking his facts. Teaching is a government job, which, like all government jobs, are a good source of steady income in good times and bad. Like all government jobs, there is an incredible amount of red tape to cut through, and half their work is administrative rather than teaching. Also, like all government jobs, in a good economy there will be a lack of fresh blood (since it pays well but not that well, and the workload is heavy), has generally lower bonuses as compared to a banking job, but better than those of, say, a manufacturing job, and is full of colleagues only there to collect their paycheck. The government does make efforts to innovate and spends money and resources in the latest trends and techniques, but there has been criticism that they don't stick with it long enough to produce results before they start chasing the next trend. Some teachers enjoy their job, some hate their job. Personally I don't see how teaching can be that different than in America. You teach because you love to teach, otherwise you're going to be a bad teacher.