Life as of an educator

So, I just got off the phone with a friend, who told me that she is quitting teaching. After 3, or maybe it's been 4 years, she says she's done. She's a special ed. teacher, in another state working with students with profound disabilities and has been leading class of 9 students and 5 aides- a lot to coordinate. She spoke about many levels of feeling frustration, and thinking about our converstation, a couple of things really struck me. First, whew, teaching is hard. There's no doubt about it. Here I am diving into the world of teaching, and while I know that this is the direction and the career I'm committed to and passionate about, yet also the challenges of working in a system that has lots of barriers to overcome is being illuminated for me. How do I as teacher ensure that all my students are being truly challenged? How do I work with the systems that we currently have in place to effectively advocate for my students, while at the same time work in collaboration with others to change these systems in order to more effectively address all students needs? Of course, there is no one magic answer, and these are questions that we will continue to struggle with. It's got me thinking though, what'll I do when the going gets really tough?