Teaching is a noble profession and to be a teacher at a college or university is considered to be a highly prestigious job. Many talented people prefer this job and willingly decline offers or opportunities of joining more lucrative jobs because they think teaching to be more honorable. That is why it was shocking the way some lecturers, who were protesting in front of Sindh assembly for their demands the other day (24 Nov) were dragged and beaten by the security personnel. Beatings by police in Pakistan are a common enough phenomenon but these scenes were being telecast live on TV channels. It's a shame the educators of this country were degraded and brutally beaten by the illiterate security men while the whole nation watched it live. Having watched this scene, who would want to join this otherwise noble and important profession now? -ANWAR JALAL KHATTAK, Peshawar, via e-mail, November 24.