&gt;<i>I think its the teachers job to earn the students&#x27; respect</i><p>Students should have a respect for school (and the role of the teacher) before any other kind of respect can be earned by the teacher as an individual.<p>Or, to put it another way, earning the students respect as a teacher is OK.<p>But having to earn the attention, and having to fight against students making noise, playing, ignoring the lesson etc, should not be the case.<p>&gt;<i>I think that when I show how deeply I love the topic I&#x27;m teaching, it rubs off on the students and they go along with it.</i><p>As I said, assuming the teacher is capable and passionate, it still depends on the students. Depending on the school&#x2F;area&#x2F;class&#x2F;etc some students wouldn&#x27;t care even if Alan Kay taught them programming and Richard Feynman did physics.<p>The idea that students will be captivated by a passionate and eloquent teacher doesn&#x27;t always pan out in reality. A lot of times it&#x27;s more like: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=Bdf_XdDwc-o" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=Bdf_XdDwc-o</a><p>&gt;<i>Also, you seem to be arguing from the perspective of what is rather than what ought to be.</i><p>Well, to get things to where it &quot;ought to be&quot; you should first tackle and work with &quot;what is&quot;.