Pipbin - I think it's exactly the same for doctors, nurses and lawyers. People think that they could do those jobs. Everyone has an opinion on all jobs because they've experienced it ("I went to school" or "I've been to the doctor") or they've seen it on some crap American TV show and think it's gospel. It's frustrating for everyone.
Philoslothy - many, many jobs regularly require you to do just that. The majority of doctors, nurses, lawyers, bankers, accountants and many 'non-professional' vocations (eg catering, hospitality etc) will require people to work in excess of 12 hours on a regular basis. Many of my friends are doctors in hospitals and they will have on-calls on top of their 7:30-5:30 shifts. These on-calls will require them to be in the hospital working for the entirety of 24 hours, or 48 hours over the weekends. Sometimes in those periods they will get no sleep and no time for food and drink! It's madness.
Culture - I'm not, no! Ha ha. I imagine our perception about those jobs isn't accurate too! I'm a lawyer [runs and hides in fear]. There are so many misconceptions about my job, I could write an essay! People dont have a good word to say about us and people rarely say thank you; all we get is criticism. We feel the same as teachers in that we're disillusioned and at breaking point. We're also made to do more and more for less. Even then our efforts are criticised or things are misinterpreted. Like many lawyers, I do a lot of pro bono which I love! When we recently challenged the proposal that we should do more, on the basis that we are not trained and qualified in the areas where people need help and those people would receive shoddy legal representation (eg a banking or property lawyer advising on immigration, family or criminal law where the outcome genuinely affects people's lives!), we were accused of being "lazy" and "refusing to work for free despite the huge salaries" (outside the massive corporate London firms, legal salaries are usually far below what the general public think they are, but that's irrelevant).
Back on the working hard thing, in my job things are quiet over July and August I can get to work at 9 and leave by 6. For the rest of the year, my normal working week is approx 8am - 9pm in the office, hopefully get home then log on for an hour or so in the evening. Most weekends I'll have a few hours of work at the weekend. When things are busy (when we have big projects/deals) I will be working 8am - 2am including the weekends for months at a time. Everyone in my team works those sorts of hours and clients will have no problem calling you at 7pm on a Friday and telling you to cancel all plans over the weekend (weddings, holidays or just drinks with friends). You have no say in this and will quickly be shown the door if you try to put up a fight! While I have had a massive rant here, I wouldn't dream of saying all this in RL or posting it on Facebook because I can always leave. The one time, years ago, when I put up a status saying I was frazzled then commented something about having worked over 100 hours that week and counting, I got attacked by 4 of my teacher friends saying "you don't know stress until you've worked as a teacher". That week alone one of them had had a status along the lines of "can't believe it's 6pm and I'm still at school" and they had all put up status after status about taking the kids to baby ballet, going to see the latest film, going out for drinks etc. It really grated (for clarity: not their happiness or free time, although I was obviously very jealous, but the fact they had to belittle what I was going through and compete).
I am going to sign off soon as it's a sunny day and I want to make the most of it, but FWIW, I honestly do not think that teachers have an easy life or doubt they work the hours they say they do. As I said in my first post, a good teacher is worth their weight in gold. Please don't think for a minute that the general public think what you do is easy or that they could do it too. There are many things about teaching that appeal to me, but I ruled it out because my skills are more suited to something else! I had thought I wouldn't be very good with lots screaming children, but having spent many years with CEOs and knob heads people in business screaming 24/7 perhaps I would have been fine!!! Honestly, enjoy your time off and recharge your batteries...but spare a thought for the struggling lawyer in the office at 2am dreaming of being allowed out of the office that week 