In the Year of the Schoolteacher, the issue of how to enhance the pedagogical worker's status takes on special urgency. Unfortunately, the problem has been addressed only on the regional level, with each region doing things its own way. The teaching profession in Russia is hampered by poor prestige, low incomes, and inadequate resources and living conditions. Attempts to improve the situation are in progress in some parts of the country, but much more needs to be done if Russian education is to be raised to a higher level.