TOEFL: Teachers were more respected and valued by the society in the past It is hard to deny that nowadays people have attached greater importance to education and such a fact leads impressionable people to generate the idea that teachers are more valued and appreciated than ten years before. However, this statement suffers from both logical and factual fallacies and should be examined meticulously. As far as the concept of a teacher, technology and social expectation are considered, I strongly hold that teachers were more respected in the past. First, teachers are not so respected by society as before, as the concept of teacher has been expanded. In the past, only those who taught knowledge to students at school could be called teachers. Nonetheless, the concept of teacher has been expanded with the development of society. Nowadays, people including counselors in teaching corporations, crafters in art galleries, even barbers in barber shops can be called teachers. The expansion of the concept might lead people to think that not every teacher qualifies the name of teacher. Second, the fact that students could have easier access to good teachers indicates that ordinary teachers might not be valued as before. Take the case of MOOC, an online teaching platform which congregates sorts of excellent courses in top universities all around the world. By only sitting in front of their computers, students could have access to various courses taught by outstanding teachers. Meanwhile, compared to these outstanding teachers, normal teachers might be less attractive and popular. In this way, students might disrespect their teachers at school and resort to online courses taught by famous teachers. Nevertheless, a voice arises that the modern society has put greater emphasis on the significance of education. According to this statement, since education has been greatly valued, teachers should be much more respected than before. Ironically, compared to the past, people have much higher expectation on current teachers to fulfill their needs. If teachers cannot reach their expectation, they might get disappointed and might not respect teachers any longer. In a nutshell, as far as the concept of a teacher, technology and social expectations are put into consideration, I maintain that currently, teachers are not given enough respect than ten years ago.