John Yang:

Judy, every year, state education officials honor the best of the best in the National Teacher of the Year program.

Recently, an essay by one of the four finalists from three years ago caught our eye: "The fate of the 2016 Teachers of the Year."

Today, only two of the four finalists from that year are still in the classroom, and only one is still at the same school.

Nate Bowling wrote that essay. He is a government teacher at Lincoln High School in Tacoma, Washington. And his fellow 2106 finalist Shawn Sheehan is now on a fellowship on Capitol Hill. When that ends, he intends to return to teaching algebra at Lewisville, Texas.

Shawn and Nate, thank you very much. Thanks for joining us.

Nate, I want to begin with you.

And I want to quote something that you wrote in that essay. You said: "Teaching is a profession, and great teachers need to feel respected and empowered. If they don't, they will leave, and should."

Respected and empowered, tell — talk about that. Why are teachers not feeling respected and empowered?