am i defeating the purpose of my profession?

Another term is over (3rd Quarterm SY 2008-2009). The nth term in my nth year as a teacher. This past term is not quite like the other terms though. Did I hear you ask why? Ok. Here are the reasons.
First, let us group the students into "regulars" (batch 2007) and the "specials" (the rest). I had 159 lecture students last term. 100 regulars and 59 specials.
Although I never liked failing students ("failing" here is a verb and not an adjective), it is inevitable. I don't have a "quota" (I know some teachers must fail a certain percentage of their students to protect their "credibility"), but here are the stats:

• Around 20% of the regulars usually do not make it in my classes.
  
• More than 50% of the specials ALWAYS fail.

For the recent past term, here are the stats:

• Only 1% of the regulars failed. This means only one regular student failed.
  
• Only 15% of the specials failed. That's 9 of 59. And 2 of those 9 did not attend classes regularly. So technically, only 7 of 57 failed (12%).

What the hell happened? Did I become a better teacher? I doubt that. I was the same old fart who taught the same things and told the same jokes.
Did my students shower me with gifts that I passed them for it? I don't think so. Just the wayward chocolate bar and a bottle of scent were given to me. And even if a student gives me anything and then fails to turn in the minimum requirement, he/she would still fail.
Did the students wake up one morning liking physics and performed better? That's like running in a race with an in-grown toenail.
It's not like my students are complaining about the result, almost everybody passed afterall, but what really happened? Maybe I unconsciously changed. Whatever brought that change benefited my students. Did it? They may have to ask themselves the same after a year or so.
Am I defeating the purpose of my profession? If I am, then maybe it's time to retire.

it's been a year. now what?

it has been a year since i started this blog. some things changed. i turned a year older, lost a few thousand strands of hair, added a pound or so of mass in the middle, raised my BP (170/100 the last time i checked!), failed a few students, passed a few hundred of them, got a new ride, and the list goes on.
some things did not change. i still smoke. i still teach. i'm still cheerful (most of the time) and grumpy at times.
now what?
i want to do something new. whatever it is, i don't know yet. it has to be something i haven't done before. it has to be done before i lose the energy and the will.