10. Summary

The poem "Where Do All the Teachers Go?", by Peter Dixon is narrated from a child's point of view. The child in the poem has a list of questions about his teachers. He begins by asking relatable questions like where his teachers go after school hours. He wonders if the teachers have a house where they have to perform daily works like washing socks.
 
Since he always sees his teachers as a professional in class, he wonders if they wear casual clothing and relaxes while watching TV. He talks about trivial things that children always do despite adults telling them not to, like picking one's nose. He wants to know if the teachers also had parents and others they had to obey. He ponders if the teachers had a childhood where they had faced issues like the inability to spell words, or being punished for pinching chocolate flakes.
 
The child further ponders that like normal children his age, if there was a time when the teachers had hated vegetables, had a bad memory, or lost their hymn books during prayers, had memories of scribbling on tops of desks or worn the same dirty jean unwashed. He finally declares that all his questions would be answered, as he plans to follow his teacher and spy on lifestyle, make a poem out of the answers so that people having similar questions could get them answered.