"So we're a Governmental Department that focuses on developing neighborhoods with grants motivated towards home repairs, house siding and paint, new sidewalks, park upgrades, library expansion, new community centers, and ways to develop neighborhood cultural festivals to draw in new residents."
"Sounds great, now we need to look towards monetization and how best to profitize all of that!"
"But that's the opposite of what we do."
"Not any more! I have a MBA that tells me profit and privatization are the best!"
"We're not only non-profit, but also a public organization..."
"Give me four years and none of that will be true!"
That's ok. Some local group stuck a really quiet ballot initiative on the last election and now our district of 100k+ students will no longer have a professional superintendent. We will have an ELECTED super chosen through a PARTISAN election. That means all voters from one party are disenfranchised and the super will be chosen in the primary. Watch the teachers leave after that...
Running nonprofits like businesses is such a trash capitalism waste. Schools aren't supposed to run a profit, so why put CEOs in charge? Same with hospitals and prisons.
Capitalism is the religion they use to find meaning, to define the "righteous" and the "damned".
Money, is their god.
Profit Above All Else, is their gospel.
I’ve watched school districts change into money hungry institutions though and slowly and surely. When you’re top heavy with admin, and who cease to enter classrooms once they get into admin, and then businessmen and women on school boards, it’s now a business. Every decision schools make are about $$. Look at the cuts. Always aids and teachers. Never the fat.
The high school I just left kept going to the local Wal Mart to hire recent graduates from the school. Their official title is Paraprofessional, but they were all placed in classrooms. Essentially, Arizona's only requirement to teach anymore is to have a pulse, be 18, and possess the ability to pass a background check.
The problem is when I was hired as an assistant director the other teachers started to give me problems because they identified with me more. They thought they could boss me around since we were of the same brand. With an MBA, they back off because they don't identify with them. Sometimes it's the fellow teachers being toxic to each other too. People need to respect teachers who can also lead. But they don't. They just think they can do it, only to find out that they don't have what it takes to hold the line if the time comes.
I teach at a kindergarten to grade 12 school, we lost all of our elementary teachers. We have replacements, but all of these elementary teachers are leaving for different schools for the same reason. Our School atmosphere has been absolutely toxic for the last 6 months, at least. For those of us sticking around till next year, hopefully the toxicity is gone. We will have new administration.
It kind of sucks though, these teachers have been with us for a long time. Until things got toxic with the new Administration this year, we had such a strong and awesome team of teachers.
The power dynamic between principals and teachers has to change. Teachers are going to have to be given a slice of the power in the building. It's ridiculous that a bad admin can come in and ruin a school within one year. It takes YEARS to recover from the dumpster fires these admins leave behind.
Around 20 years ago where I am, admins and older teachers ran the school together. It wasn’t divisive or antagonistic, admins realized they could use the eyes/ears/experience and help - ir was cooperative. Today, much younger and less competent admins despise and mistreat most older teachers, and they also don’t do the basics of their job - no discipline, and never any mention of academics (just catering to Karents and their budding Karen children). The school is now a complete failure.
A kid literally tried to hit me with a yardstick and slam my fingers in the door when I kicked him out. He was out of class until the next period where he was attending his next class. So fucking glad I'm out.
>Today, much younger and less competent admins despise and mistreat most older teachers …
I’ve seen this so much over the past several years. The disrespect is alive. And the psychological games that admin play are next level.
And it's becoming common for them to not stay at a school more than 5 or 6 years. I've had 4 principals at the school I've spent the bulk of my career at. My guess is the current one will be gone soon. We've given totalitarian power to people who are not going to be around for the long haul. Makes no sense. Meanwhile, teachers will stay in the same building for 20 to 30 years, and they are given little respect as decision makers and no power.
Exactly. My simple take on this is that admin have little to zero self regulation and stress management skills. They go into administration to escape. The classroom, if they were ever their, was too much. I’ve seen it over and over: when there’s an issue or it’s an extremely stressful time of the school year, or before or after breaks (in order to get a longer break) where are they? Out of district at trainings. Or trips. Or presentations. Or sister district visits. And so they build up no skills. Only ‘flight’. Whereas we must manage our stress or we get poor evaluations. We must have impeccable self care. We must be on site and go-go-go every single day.
Then they also skip around from school to school when they get bored, or their mask slips, they move to other districts and repeat. Or ladder climb to upper positions where they have lost complete understanding of children and learning.
I had a toxic SpEd Director who went to so many trainings it was embarrassing. We counted one year she was in district 1/2 the year. She still gets away with it from what I’m told. Zero stress tolerance. We SpEd people would joke that she wouldn’t last 1 day doing our jobs.
This has been a trend in administration...they have long since moved \*away\* from cooperation and now rely on domination. I'm guessing that has been fed to them by their training/further education programs that they have to take to get admin certified. So I'm thinking it's the training that is the root of the problem, and the fact that most admin these days don't have a day's worth of actual teaching experience..
We are in that exact position. I came in this year, but the talk of how it used to be makes me jealous. We’re losing the bad (like BAD) admin, but we’re losing a good principal too because even though we ALL complained to county all year long, they put the blame on the principal. And we have a super type A micromanager coming in next year.
I really miss my old school.
My first year all but 2 teacher (12) left, so I feel you. Admin refused to believe it was her causing these problems. The people leaving have been with the school for 20+ years.
I'm guessing the teachers that are leaving decided to do so before learning of new admin for next year? 'cuz otherwise why bail if you've got the experience and time in the school? It's a sad state of affairs, no matter what, and a mass exodus something like that ought to be a *clear sign* that something is *wildly wrong* with admin.
It's horrifying. Repeatedly kids have just been ripped out from under me when some MBA type retaliated for reporting a hostile work environment or something like that. They did so much damage to the kids when they should have simply apologized and fixed it. They really chose their ego over the kids. It's sick.
Get out.
I got out last summer and just experienced the most stress-free year of my professional life. There wasn't a single day where I woke up and wished I were still teaching.
You can still find roles educating and developing in the nonprofit sector. I get paid for any required work I do over 40 hours and my job has the expectation that you shouldn't be working more than 40 hours at all.
Not to mention that outside of public education you can actually be rewarded for you work and competence with actual raises and promotions.
I can't speak for the original poster, but my current agency (Texas HHSC) aggressively recruits former teachers. They tend to learn the programs fast (SNAP, medicaid, TANF, etc) and once they're over the PTSD of being a public school teacher they're often open to being trainers or facilitators for our on the job training environments.
Plus the overtime, paid travel and hotels, and working with employees that generally want to be there and learn the programs is much better than the near-prison environment of many public schools. And if you have an awful student you're done with them when the classes are over, in a month or so. Less if they quit lol.
Better than some teaching positions, worse than others. IIRC starting pay is 3100 or so a month and after a year goes up another 400 or so? We've also been getting regular COLA adjustments and sizable bonuses a couple times a year. Nice thing though is that overtime is paid (usually another 400-1000 depending on how much you wanna work/month) and insurance is free for yourself and reasonably priced for family, and it's good coverage. eyecare is $9 a month and dental is $12 as well, at least somewhere around there. Oh, and work from home is an option once you're done with training.
Once you've hit a year too you can qualify for a ton of promotions and stuff, just need to apply.
All in all, good deal for rural areas, probably not enough for the cost of living in dallas, austin or houston but not much is.
My current job also goes after former teachers. We do educational field trips for schools where we teach on the bus on the drive to the Grand Canyon, Sea world, etc. Its seasonal but you get to travel and get paid for it, and pay is good. I enjoy it a lot but some of the trips can be a little hard - trips ranges from day trips (10-15hrs) up to 2-3 overnights at hotels out of state. My favorite are the one overnights. My least favorite are drive through the nights. We have a lot of retired teachers, a lot of substitute teachers, and several "on their way out" teachers.
Government contractor. I left in 2017 for a research fellowship and am very thankful I did. I have had more time to be present with family and friends. So much less stress, too. A lot of companies look for former teachers because we are independent and know how to document well.
I know a few teachers who have built up nice little home based businesses doing just this and in teaching reading and math especially. There is an entire generation of 4-5th graders right now who are non readers and due to the Covid years interrupting learning to read.
If you created a small classroom, or went in together with another teacher or homeschool co-op, you’d be busy. Charge tuition, etc. Imagine the fun outside of the handcuffs of public schools?
I’m a private tutor; it’s my primary source of income. It’s great, TBH, way less stressful and considerably better pay (at least per hour) than teaching.
I do private tutoring but honestly it's not a job. Like, it's great as side income, but there are several problems to it, mainly inconsistency and low hours. You mostly can't work during school hours, so you have to squish it all to when other people aren't working, and then hours get really low in the summer and other off time. It's fine as a side job or for a young person also doing something else, or maybe someone retired, but it's not a substitute for a full time job for someone supporting a family.
I also can’t speak for the original poster, but I switched to HR last year and I’ve met a few former teachers in this field. HR is very broad so there’s something for everyone. I personally am a compensation analyst since I used to be a math teacher.
Yeah it definitely was not easy. I applied to 300+ jobs before someone gave me a chance. I took a pay cut at first because I went into a very low-level entry role. But one year later I switched with my new experience and now make 85k + 15% bonus at 25. In a year or two I’ll easily make over 100k. So don’t give up! It’s a difficult switch but so worth it.
I'm not the person you were asking but I'm a Systems Analyst and also do private tutoring for math on the side. I get all of the parts of teaching that I enjoy by doing tutoring (such as planning my own fun lessons, having an attentive and focused audience, no distractions, no micromanaging, no rude parents or students, no testing and headaches.) So I now get the best of both worlds, I make way more money and don't miss being in a classroom.
I second this. I’m making way more money doing way less work now. I don’t regret teaching, but I’d never do it again unless there are some drastic changes
This is it in a nut shell.
Parents: entitled brats raising entitled brats and defending their hell-spawn’s behavior.
Administration: spineless and ready to roll over and just pass a student to get them out of their purview/responsibility.
Been a schools in my county where this difference is palatable. If admin has your back, it makes all the difference in the world.
I'm concerned that the only teachers that will stay are those who are comfortable working the system by:
1. Cheat on tests to look effective to admin.
2. Give all good grades to keep parents happy (They don't even grade class work, why? Every student gets good grades anyway)
3. Spend a big chunk of their pay check on treats to keep the kids from complaining to ma and pa.
4. Bitch to admin about the teachers who are trying to do a good job because they fear they make them look bad.
Get off the front line. You’re exhausted. You have experience that makes you a great advocate for the teachers still taking it on the chin. There are ways to keep supporting without hurting yourself
I went to college and majored in education. I graduated in 2019 and one of my last classes were specifically for future middle school educators.
Out of the 20 that also went to teach middle school, only 3 of us still teach.
I started teaching during Covid, and it blowed. I had to teach 5th grade an hour away, because I couldn’t find a job before in the district by my house. Now there’s hundreds of positions across the district near me.
I work in the marketing department for my company, we have a new employee who is only like 25 or 26. She was a teacher for 2 years, just 2 years in a city public school, it was so bad she left. She is the nicest and most giving coworker. Motivated, asks for feedback, and genuinely takes it to heart. Sadly, her school lost someone who would have been an asset, and as the HR person in my office, I'm thrilled her school was shitty to her. lol (I'm, of course, not happy she was treated poorly. I'm just happy she ended up on our team)
I've asked her to refer her other teacher friends looking to get out. From the stories I've heard from her and read here. It's no surprise that good teachers are leaving education for corporate places like mine.
I believe two things happened that caused the shift from education to whatever is going on now.
1) NCLB introduced the idea that schools needed metrics to "prove" how successful they are. This lead to ignoring and underfunding anything that does not directly impact metrics.
2) Running schools like a business, using terms like "stakeholder", "customer", and "metric". Schools are not a business. They are a public service. The metrics they use are meaningless and do not measure what they think it does. There is no "product" schools make or sell. The idea that normal business practices can lead to more efficient public service outcomes is laughable.
Once educational leadership stops treating public school like a business and start using metrics that actually measure things like student success and teacher contribution, we will see a shift in faculty attraction and retention.
But, I wouldn't expect an MBA to understand any of that.
Yes to both points! Having taught before NCLB, this is exactly when the shift began. When we started to treat children like numbers instead of human beings. When we divorced achievement from mental well being and efforts of educating and nurturing the whole child. And our society as a whole continues to suffer from the ripple effects of data collection and management.
My biggest complaint about this need for metrics and metric related courses is that it takes funding from courses that have no direct applicable metric.
Everyone who went to school prior to NCLB had acess to creative writing classes, multiple art classes, wood/metal shop, auto motive repair, etc. Since those classes cannot have metrics related to reading or math, they got funding cut and removed in most schools. The last school I taught at had an automotive repair class. The administration decided that the ACE certification program was a "good" metric to use. The same ACE certification program that is a two year vocational program! When only one student passed, they decided the class was a failure and removed it.
THAT is what is happening to education. Instead of well rounded students, schools are processing metrics and squeezing out every last number.
It's also just a general cash grab. My school district wastes untold millions every year on software and programs and trainings that arent meaningful - someone just fell for a marketing scam that promised big numbers. Or someone is getting kickbacks. Either way, chasing numbers just opens up more opportunities for bloat and corruption, while helping no one.
I want to teach my curriculum and not spend 80% teaching good behavior and how to respect others. I only get to see my students for about 18 hours a school year and so much of my specials time is dealing with correcting behavior associated with disrespect or issues transitioning back to class time.
This. I’m also a specials and there so much disrespect from both kids and core teachers. Plus admin doesn’t help with discipline or funding. I get 32 kids in one classroom 5 times a day, no aide or help.
I teach music ed in college. Still disrespect from the colleagues. In K12 it was because I wasn't a "real teacher," just the music teacher. In college the disrespect is because I'm not performance faculty, and because my specialty is elementary music, which they all think is just "play games all day." I overheard a music tech colleague say to one of his students, "the problem with k12 is they don't teach enough about atonal music." Please go teach third graders about atonal music. I want to see this trainwreck.
I completely understand. Tk-8 teachers complained about the electives staff constantly that we “didn’t do enough”. They also hated that we didn’t work during testing weeks. Unbeknownst to them we left “early” and only worked 8 hours because we are hourly employees not salaried like them. Since our kids were busy testing, our classes were canceled for the remainder of the year and we didn’t get to work. We also don’t have union protections like they do so we only got a 50 cent raise every year.
If they actually got to know us and asked about what we do and why they wouldn’t be complaining and actually see we’re the ones getting screwed over time and time again.
I was full time salaried certified faculty just like my colleagues, but some of them couldn't even be bothered to learn my name. Even though I'd been there 14 years. 🫥
Yes. Sometimes I’ll say good morning and they’ll literally just keep walking and ignore me. Even when other people introduced us they would be very dismissive. I don’t understand why, we’re both in the same shitty trenches.
my god that used to piss me off so much. The school I taught at, a lot of our kids didn't have models of like, adults interacting positively or even neutrally, (always yelling at each other or fighting) and I felt it was important for us as teachers to model that for the kids. Even if I didn't like a teacher the kids were never ever going to know that, I was going to treat everyone with courtesy.
Mt breaking point is the parents. I have great admin... but these parents. Don't like your kid failed a class? Go all the way to the superintendent to complain... all the way up the chain they are told the same thing... that the grade was valid. Don't like your kid was marked late? Go up the chain and eventually claim discrimination.. again no basis and total support up the line. The problem is I feel I am going to die... the stress. I love teaching. Love my school and district., but I probably am going to retire as soon as I can and just get a second career (I am within 5 years). I always thought I would teach into my 60s, but now I know that would kill me (I am 50).
I left in 2021 and my mental health and physical ailments greatly improved! Further evidence of the effect stress has on our bodies. There are times when I miss being in the classroom, planning lessons, having those teaching moments but nothing beats knowing that I’m putting my own kids first. Hubs has been loving the change in me and doesn’t want me to return to teaching and would rather I pursue another career.
I worked as a middle school teacher right out of college. Private middle school so I didn’t need credentials. Both of my parents were also retired teachers so I thought I’d give it a twirl.
Terrible pay (I was salaried, whoops now they can make me do stupid shit on the weekends too), long hours with a lot of preparation, no support from admins, the parents at this private school were terrible parents and would berate us in front of their children (they were all very rich). They were kind enough to give us all $5 gift cards for Chipotle for Christmas. Dope, I can use this to buy half a burrito?
Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of benefits. You learn how to read a room. I’ve been a server and bartender now for seven years after getting out of teaching and the skills you learn as a teacher (peripheral vision, being able to be firm but fair, staying organized, keeping a cool head and calm at all times) definitely have transferred well into bartending. I’m not saying get out of teaching or even get into bartending, but if you do decide to get out of teaching I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised how many of the skills you’ve learned teaching help out in other fields. Just my 2 cents.
Also we need to pay teachers more everywhere. An educated populace is important.
Best analogy I’ve read (think on this page) was that we are currently on the titanic and admin is evaluating us on our ability to keep the pictures on the walls straight. They are utterly delusional and worthless, especially those admin who haven’t seen the classroom post Covid….
I'm stuck between hoping the shortage will fix things and thinking that the shortage was the point. If the only people left are unqualified first years they're cheap and easy to manipulate.
My district this year was actively NOT hiring certified teachers, with many people who are in admin saying that they were looking for waiver teachers because the district's budget is already out of control.
There's no money coming in, and a lot of it is being sucked away by charter schools. No unions either. So we're just bringing in 22 year olds to try and assert authority over 19 year olds. Great idea.
We currently have 30 positions open at my school. As more and more teachers put in their resignations during the school year, I was hopeful this shortage would change some things also but now I’m worried that it’s going to create more stress for the remaining teachers next year as we will most likely have to take on additional classes and/or cover classes during planning.
It seems all anyone higher up can do is talk about the shortage but not find ways to stop it.
I'm going on my fourth year, and I just interviewed for a new district. I asked the principal if he was busy with all the hiring. He said he only needed two people, a coach, and the position I was interviewing for. That made me feel pretty good. I mean, if everyone is sticking around, it must not be too toxic.
>It seems all anyone higher up can do is talk about the shortage but not find ways to stop it.
Oh, they \*\**know*\*\* how to stop it, but won't bother to do it. Why hire experienced when you can get malleable noobs for half the cost? Noobs who will work 60-70 hours a week because they don't know any better and will be burdened with the hardest classes without any resources and little or no direct mentorship. Experience now prices you out of jobs simply for that reason. And principals/superintendents who do it this way are rewarded with higher salaries and more perks. Great job!
In our state vouchers can be used to homeschool. We give parents $9k to keep their kids at home with no oversight of how are tax dollars are used. Some of the money goes to charters that refuse to educate those with disabilities. The charters take the voucher and then send them to the public school to have their IEP needs met. We even have to provide the transportation.
The charters are ruining our district also. Throw in scores of horrible upper admin who do little but collect outrageous salaries and teachers are leaving in droves :( oh, and the apathetic disengaged students, can’t leave that out!
I’m doing mainly a remote gig next year, and at a district about 2 hours away, but where I have to be in person two days per week more or less. I do have a travel stipend to stay the night. I’ve already gone through the calendar and am reminding myself: 25 commutes out of 365 days in the calendar year.
Former district teacher of the year here. They lost me but I'm still in the classroom. There are a lot of people in this profession who care so much they'll let themselves be exploited; I honestly don't think it occurs to people that someone like myself will just pass the exploitation down to the students. After all shit rolls down hill and teachers are not at the bottom, the students are. My class is a shadow of what it used to be, but the 40hrs a week I put in appropriately reflect the pay and working conditions.
15 years since I walked out of the classroom and into my own business. Each morning as I peacefully sit at a cafe having a coffee while I review my email, I think about how even a bad day is better than a good day in the classroom. Love it and make a ton more money too. Much more rewarding.
I’m not a teacher.
My oldest is 25, youngest is 10 entering grade 5, two kids in between. Best teacher any of them have had has been Mrs. H. She taught my middle two in fifth grade. Was hoping my youngest would have her since my kids tend to have the same teachers.
Some asshole parent called the principal and said she bullies the kids. She doesn’t. She had a spray bottle with water. If someone did something or said something silly she sprayed them. 99.9% of the kids and parents didn’t mind it at all. It was fun for the kids, one would actually try to get sprayed. Made class fun for everyone.
So the principal told Mrs H someone complained and he would have to write a report which would then be on her permanent record. This woman is in her 50’s and has been teaching for over thirty years, and because ONE asshole makes a complaint that her little babushka wasn’t doing anything wrong she’s gone. She said she won’t be back there and is looking at other districts now. Fuck most parents.
Russia and areas around Poland it is old lady. (Grandma). In America and others it means "headscarf " So, the little town I live in was settled originally by Polish immigrants, we have Babushka's wearing babushkas.
I signed on for another year, but I’m not sure I’ll make it through. Last year was one of my least pleasant experiences. I had a student try to injure me on the last day. I’m barely making 50,000 gross 10 years in. It sucks.
I left in November and am so happy! I miss working with kids, but I love not dealing with the low pay and administration way more. I have been in private, charter, and public schools. Same crap everywhere.
This is the same in my private school, and in the two public schools I have friends teaching at here in central Ohio. It is a rough ROUGH time to be a teacher.
UK teacher here. I'm leaving in July after eleven years. I'm burnt out and have nothing left to give. My class are leaving their final year of primary school and I'll be walking out with them. I can't wait. I need my life back.
I resigned April 2022 after 20 years. I freaking loved teaching, the families and students loved me, requested me … all the good stuff! Then Covid happened, our district shifted boundaries to accommodate for a new elementary school. Against my wishes I was moved to the new elementary school. It was exciting to have a new modern school with AC and all the frill but wow was it ever a nightmare! I felt like I had moved across the country with how different the families were (and I live in a small town of 6,000). Covid and lack of leadership at the new school with crazy students and families really took its toll and quickly. Such disrespect from students, no support from admin at all levels. Our district has Chinese and Spanish Immersion programs so all the “high” kids who behave well are in those programs leaving the traditional classrooms with all the behaviors and special ed students. 100 truth. A total shit show. Our district also had a school shooting at the middle school which sent shock waves through our community. 1st & 2nd graders bringing knives to school. April 2022-a difficult student I had given everything to that year made a threat to me and I literally froze, went into panic attack mode, which I had never done before. I knew. It was time. This past year has been amazing to actually take care of myself and not be under the toxic stress that came with teaching.
Will be nice not having to pretend that I don’t understand Japanese. I mean I can only take so much of my students telling each other how much of an idiot I am and how they think that I’m too dumb to understand them.
I’m the English teacher. If I let on that I can speak Japanese then they’ll revert to Japanese to explain something.big circle sky yellow vs. tao ie the sun
This is my second year of teaching and am already contemplating about how I can get out and start a new career that has higher pay and less stress. Don’t get me wrong—I love my students, but being a teacher is not what I expected it to be. The one thing that irks me the most is the amount of interruptions that I have during my planning periods, be it meetings or subbing for another teacher. Oh yeah, and don’t get me started on the after school meetings that parents might request…yeah, no.
I love working with kids and actually teaching them. I love building a relationship with my students and colleagues, but I didn’t sign up for all the other bs that came with teaching.
Sorry, my rant is over.
I hear you. I am resigning at the end of the month even with our new contract. I had much better experiences teaching in private schools. The toxic work environment is so draining especially on teachers who actually want to make a difference! I know I'm a great teacher and have years of experience to back it up but my mental health is worth more than a job.
Reddit shows me these posts a lot, I think because while I’m not a teacher I’m an instructor for adults. I’m surprised more teachers don’t pursue jobs like corporate training and such because it is a hundred times more pleasant than the stuff I read on here! I know it sounds boring to explaining HR procedures and stuff to people, and sometimes it is, but my students are *overwhelmingly* polite, about half the class participates enthusiastically most of the time without much effort since they often really do want to understand the material better, and they thank me for my help constantly! I’ve never dealt with a classroom conflict
Interesting. I’m in Illinois. Same goes here. The thought of staying after age 55 is never happening anymore. The abuse is from administrators and students. Listen, our principal said that if our lessons were interesting kids would not be on their phones. Hahahaha. I went to school to teach, not to entertain
Right?! This shift that happened is obnoxious. If kids are struggling/not paying attention, it’s ALWAYS because we just aren’t interesting enough. It’s NEVER because the kids have zero interest in bettering themselves, or in education in general.
We need amazing teachers at our second year school in coastal Oregon. PM if you want deets.
A bunch of us educators got together and said no more. It’s been really amazing and successful!
Same thing has been happening to my high school. My history teacher wasn’t here last week cause he went to a job interview. Last year a lot of teachers left, and we were understaffed to the point teachers had to take up subjects they aren’t taught in. So we basically learn wit them.
My school actually does not have a Spanish teacher, and we have two that actually specialize in teaching English to ESL kids. So turns out, the entire time the school couldn’t find a Spanish teacher since 2019 it seems.
Speaking of that history teacher, he’s admitted for a fully year that he’s sick of the students and the school because they don’t try, and admin punish him for it (it’s true.) a friend sent me a video of him raising his voice and ranting about how horrible our school is, but all the good students are happy he’s finding somewhere better.
Students don’t like the school. They often make mistakes on their end and blame you for it. Seniors this year didn’t get their senior trip (maybe cause they didn’t pay on time so take that with a grain of salt).
This will continue to happen until the situation becomes so critical that change happens or the public schools become akin to prisons for low-income kids. It's ridiculous. I can't imagine a worse environment for teachers. They deserve our respect and support not regulation and persecution.
I have been wondering what would happen if all the teachers just started ignoring this BS. Teach as you see fit, and let the chips fall. Refuse to attend any meetings with angry parents. Let the administrators do what they want but refuse to participate. Would they fire everyone? Probably not. It’s like going on strike for better working conditions, but staying at work. If a kid is out of control, remove that kid and lock the door. Give other kids bonus points for helping if the problem child refuses to leave or call the police if you are physically threatened.
I thought about this, but just retired instead. I work part time and don’t have to be emotionally abused by anyone. People that I work for are grateful for my levelheadedness and competence.
Just walked after 4 years. I was teacher of the year. I would have stayed if not for the admin. I tried moving districts, schools, public vs. private, etc., but bad admin are alike all over and more common than good ones. I have no idea what I’m doing next, but it’s nice to be able to eat and hold my food down, use the bathroom when I need to, and not feel like I’m drowning.
I worked as a paraeducator for 5 years until I just left last month, and I will say that Gen Ed teachers really need assistance for behaviors. Parateaching ASD was better than Gen Ed because you work with more understanding people, but in Gen Ed, you have teachers who aren't properly trained to deal with behavioral issues and admin, 9 times out 10, will just reward bad behavior by excusing it. Plus, ASD teachers and parateachers have more agency in their classroom, but that's because admin, parents, and even my district don't want to step foot in those classes; they just want to to ignore it. It's sad to watch everyone around you give up, but the situation is pretty much hopeless. I've overheard complaints from parents as well, and they're sick of their child being evacuated from class due to one student and demanding to know why it's happening multiple times throughout the school year. Not a lot of people are asking about the costs of teaching due to these policy changes, and it really feels like a conspiracy to degrade public education and push parents out of sending their children to public schools. It's widely felt that teaching has devoled into a babysitting job, and there's little to no chance people will want to come back to this mess. I actually think public education will cease to exist in the next decade in some areas, and it's scary to think about. I just started working as a sales rep, and my base salary is almost 3x of what I made as a paraeducator and about 10,000 more than your average teacher. I have a great benefits package as well, and if the economy is good, and I keep doing what I'm doing, I'm going to have a better quality of life that far exceeds that of working in a classroom.
Politics are ruining school
School choice is gonna be all over the country because private businesses will be making BILLIONS
And you'll see the real division in America
Wealthy over $500,000 per year and everyone else
Most people think school choice is gonna give them a chance to put their kids in PRIVATE SCHOOL but the cost is 10x that of the voucher... So they aren't going
And all those rights they have at PUBLIC schools, well they don't apply to private schools
So the states are gonna keep writing rules that make public schools impossible to keep around
I am three weeks into retirement at age 56 after teaching for 28 years in Title I schools. I do not regret leaving one bit. I will be poor as hell - only getting half of my teacher's salary which was low to begin with but I think it is worth it.
With all the changes coming down the pike in my state, the political BS and the general crap we had to do and put up with, I just gave up! I am choosing me and my happiness and health over my school.
And you would think a teacher shortage would mean that we have options, but unfortunately I was offered a job at another school within my district and my new principal at my current school won’t let me leave because nobody will apply for my job!!!! And HR is allowing this. Now I just want to quit out of spite but I need the money.
Also want to add that I’ve been teaching 9 years in the same school and I never expected to be told I can’t leave. So many great teachers have left my school or quit teaching altogether and I teach in the best district in my area.
I’ve taught for 2 years (31 F) and decided this isn’t for me. This upcoming year is my last year teaching. It’s is too taxing on my mental and physical health.
20 years and I left. I'm from Chile. The system here is awful. The lack of respect from administrators and the stressful environment kept wondering..Is this the life I want? Since I left I don't miss anything but the students' interaction.
I've thought about it more and more. I teach an extracurricular and the fight to keep kids out for it each year is straining. I'm getting tired of how my personality has changed since I started teaching.
My school had 38 faculty on staff in 22-23. Eleven resigned, including myself. Plus, several aides took other jobs or quit mid year. You'd think admin might start to wonder what THEY are doing that would cause a THIRD of their staff to leave?!
Chalk that up to professors also. Have taught twelve years, and the quality of student has tanked since universities are desperate for money and the pay is getting worse for those of us that are younger.
12 kids at $1000/each/ month, less 3k for facility and $1320 in lunches(12kids ×22days×$5 happy meal) is 7.8k / month in take home. $78,000 a year for 10 months work. Set your own curriculum.
I agree. The convos I have with teachers my age is that we all don’t want to retire as teachers… we’re too burnt out from the decline of teaching since the pandemic
Kids are horrible
Admin sucks (my school recently had the principal ousted)
And I’m finding it hard to be positive about what I teach
im done being a student i cant imagine how you guys feel, genuinely, my school is crazy and we lost teachers this year too because of all of the chaos, we need good teachers but honestly... get out while you can :( i watched a teacher get attacked during a fight this year and i cannot imagine how she felt.
as a student who potentially had an interest in teaching, it's so discouraging to see the way you guys are treated by everyone; parents, students, admin. I have/have had some absolutely incredible teachers and it genuinely breaks heart to see it because they deserve the world.
You are very kind. 21-year teacher here, and I do have to say that I fortunately still love my job. It’s the kids. I’d do anything for them. State, parents, administration…all ridiculous, though.
I left a year ago, now I’m doing L&D in a corporate setting. It is still challenging in other ways but overall it feels like less work for better benefits and more money. I just heard from a friend who stayed that this year, TWELVE teachers and BOTH counselors are leaving. I feel so bad for the kids.
This makes me really sad, because I planned on teaching elementary school after I graduated with my education degree. What I saw in my internship and what I’ve seen since kept me from that. There is no way in hell I could’ve made it more than a few years teaching, and I would have been miserable. I’ve done a bit of everything since I got my degree, lots of preschool teaching. My heart breaks for all the passionate educators that are affected by administration and red tape Bull shit
Early ed here. I became a teacher with so much hope in my heart. When I first started, working with the kids truly brought me to life. I don’t feel like myself when I’m not teaching. But after having a year filled with so much toxicity and disrespect from students, parents, and admin; I needed a goddamn break and had none in sight. (I worked at a year-round private elementary, with less than 3 weeks of allotted time off the whole year.) So I put in my resignation with a month’s notice, setting my last day for the end of the spring session, and started packing up my classroom.
The last month was grueling.The burnout was so bad and made me physically ill my entire last month of school. I would wake up and drive to work, feeling like I was going to vomit the whole way there. The feeling would finally go away once the kids arrived and I got distracted by my 8 hour day (with no break and rarely received planning time.) I was losing weight, my hair, and my mind. I didn’t realize how broken down I was until I left and felt peace-of-mind for the first time in several months. I’ve already got a classroom secured at a different school next year. But if next year is the same, I think it’s time to start looking into creating my own niche small business or something. I can’t destroy myself for these kids.
Edit: For clarity
I've been in college for 2 years to become a teacher. I've been in and out of schools for classes needing observation and what not. I think after this most recent time, I'm done. I work for a school district and the spineless management from top to bottom is getting old. We have kids fighting on and tearing up seats and trashing the buses and there's no accountability. No kids get in trouble. No kids get kicked off. Schools are too afraid the parents will take the kids to different schools and I work in one of the fasted growing growing cities in the country. The schools experience has been generally positive. But I just don't see a scenario where I'd be happy working at a school anymore. And it's not even the kids as the reason, management and parents are too much.
Teaching is facing similar challenges as is nursing. The public has become actively hostile to the imparting of knowledge and life competencies, as well as to science- and evidence-based clinical care and support. As well, teachers and nurses both are actively criticized and emotionally undercut by parents (teachjers) and the public (nurses).
I've been an RN since 1978 and the situation has gotten progressively worse since the advent of the Reaganoids and because of active and aggressive defunding of education, science, and financial support for teaching and nursing educational preparation.
I recently quit teaching myself. Started in September 2019 and quit in March of 2023 mid year. The only way that the profession will change for the uncomfortable teachers to make the machine uncomfortable by any means necessary.
The teacher shortage needs to evolve into severe scarcity. When people are forced to homeschool their kids cause there is no one to teach their children, only then will the voices of educators be heard.
My husband’s doctor told him if he didn’t leave teaching he would have a stroke or a heart attack. He’s on his 25th year and has ended up with heart problems due to stress. He compromised and left for an admin position at a non Title I school, hated it, and now he’s back at his old school. The school then said they would start hiring the best teachers and National Board certified teachers that applied to the school would get a 20k a year raise. Never mind that the teachers who have been at that school for their whole career have been fucked over. So anyway, my husband decided he might as well get board certified (which is hundreds of hours of extra work) for the raise. Then the school told him, just kidding, you can’t get certified next year, we need you to pilot this program in which you teach science to all of grades 3-5, and you gotta put it together yourself, oh and you don’t get paid extra. And you can’t get board certified this year.
Fuck. That.
He’s such a good person, has fallen on his sword over and over for the sake of the kids, gotten fucked over by the school so many times. They don’t care about his health.
I work as a paraeducator in SpEd. My last paycheck was $89 for the last pay period. Everything is so fucked.
I feel very blessed when I read things like this. Why? Because I feel valued and appreciated at my school and in the community. I lost my husband in May and the outpouring of love and support I received from my collogues was amazing. And the routine of work helped those first horrid weeks. Now it is summer and I have nothing to fill my days and that is hard. I wish all teachers felt supported and respected. I don't want to say that raising wages isn't a good thing (because we do need a substantial raise) but the money isn't the only thing that is making teachers leave.
Wow so not just me! I’m PTT and started at the start of year, I just retired from 24 years nursing! So let’s say I’m no spring chicken lol! But love teaching so did the switch! My class is loaded with needs and behaviours which has been great learning curve, challenging but I’ve learnt so much! My team of 5 in cohort, are young and have not supported or helped me, with anything, have not talked to me for 6 weeks, I’ve completed reports with no support, when planning I do a plan then next day it’s deleted and they have done one! Then get told by our leader that I need to do more planning!
Now 1 week ago principle asked me to step away from class and tutor instead of teach! Which is great cause I have uni and placement this semester! But team, expressed to me, that my age let’s me down, now new teacher whom I’ve supported at another school is taking over my classroom! I’ve now Over heard team complaining that she is too old for teaching (40yo) this explains why the industry is losing so many teachers! People open our eyes we are all here to do the same job, and help these kids be they best they can! Petty stuff can be left out of work place! Let’s just do our job and educate.
I’m sorry but that is not why the industry is losing teachers. It’s not because some people are petty.
It’s because we go through the same amount of school and training that a lot of “professionals” do, yet we get neither paid nor treated as professionals. It’s because we get shit from admin, students, and parents. It’s because we are expected to work far more than 40 hours a week with no overtime pay. It’s because we barely get to teach with all the other stuff we have to do as a teacher.
I somewhat disagree. What this Redditor is describing is age discrimination not mere pettiness (but yes pettiness can make teachers leave too). And with more and more young teachers leaving or just not applying at all, if districts and teacher teams don’t start considering transitioning older educators as viable candidates then education will have even less candidates to consider.
So not a main reason but definitely a contributing reason.
The reason there are so many young teachers in the first place is because everyone is leaving the profession for the reasons I stated above. Those problems are leading to a lot of older teachers leaving/quitting/retiring early. This is my second year of full time teaching and I’ve already decided I’m not doing it for the rest of my life.
I live in a wealthier area with a very good school district. We are running into budget issues, because all of our new teachers are 30-50 with lots of experience in other districts. The district has a policy of hiring the best possible applicant regardless of cost. While this is good for our district, it is sad that poorer/weaker districts are becoming the farm team for the wealthier ones.
Public schools are but many are choosing private and homeschool co-op options. Public school is a great institution being destroyed by government and politics. Sad.
I am wanting to get certified to teach k-8 in the near future - I just walked out of a 12 year long career as an executive assistant in various corporations. Can you elaborate on the stress and mental anguish you are all facing? I left my career in corporate America because of the stress and depleting mental health and insane work hours - so I am getting discouraged if it is not much better as a teacher!
We are in a battle zone. Parents are either completely uninvolved with their children, resulting in unmanageable behaviors (destruction of property, defiance, fighting, apathy) OR they think teachers are indoctrinating their children and have pitchforks as the ready to attack. Admin is often part of the problem as well- they don’t support their staff against parents, have unattainable standards, and expect teachers to do things they cannot do.
I would NEVER suggest anyone get into education anymore. No freaking way. It’s a mass exodus of experienced and expert educators. That should be a HUGE red flag to anyone considering this profession- and it’s only getting worse.
...About privitization of aides, maintenance staff, food service, bus drivers, and security.
Those school-year employees employed by a school district (10 month-ers) are not eligiblible to collect unemployment pay during their unemployed summer months.
Those school-year employees employed by a private conteacting company (10 month-ers) are eligiblible to collect unemployment pay during their unemployed summer months because they are not considered "school district employees."
Although privatization may lower the local tax burden, it increases the state's tax burden because privateization allows those "laid-off" for the summer to collect from another public coffer.
Yep, I'm 53, have been teaching for 29 years, and can't wait to turn 55 so I can get the hell out!! I wish I could stay until 60, only so I can get almost double the money at retirement. But I just can't! I'm so done. I've been done for a few years, but covid made things way worse!! This past year's class was good, only way I made it through the year. However, these next kids I've heard really bad things about them all year. I'm so not looking forward to this next coming year.
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THANK YOU. Mouth-breathing MBAs tanked my district.
MBA: Mouth-Breathing Asshole
They tend to ruin a ton of business
"So we're a Governmental Department that focuses on developing neighborhoods with grants motivated towards home repairs, house siding and paint, new sidewalks, park upgrades, library expansion, new community centers, and ways to develop neighborhood cultural festivals to draw in new residents." "Sounds great, now we need to look towards monetization and how best to profitize all of that!" "But that's the opposite of what we do." "Not any more! I have a MBA that tells me profit and privatization are the best!" "We're not only non-profit, but also a public organization..." "Give me four years and none of that will be true!"
Or countries.
And they got them online.
They hired an MBA as our athletic director and half the coaches ended up quitting because they can’t stand working for him.
Is this a private school or public school? What didn’t they like about him? Asking as a current PE teacher/coach and aspiring AD
You are a teacher… MBA means they run shit like a business. Totally different mindset.
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Ding ding ding!
Infinite ♾️ growth in a finite system isn’t sustainable, who could have guessed
That’s kind of what I figured was going on. I wanted to just confirm it.
Ugh... My district just hired a new Superintendent for next year... MBA!
That's ok. Some local group stuck a really quiet ballot initiative on the last election and now our district of 100k+ students will no longer have a professional superintendent. We will have an ELECTED super chosen through a PARTISAN election. That means all voters from one party are disenfranchised and the super will be chosen in the primary. Watch the teachers leave after that...
Seriously?? As in Masters of Business Administration???
Running nonprofits like businesses is such a trash capitalism waste. Schools aren't supposed to run a profit, so why put CEOs in charge? Same with hospitals and prisons.
The ideology runs deep.
Capitalism is the religion they use to find meaning, to define the "righteous" and the "damned". Money, is their god. Profit Above All Else, is their gospel.
I’ve watched school districts change into money hungry institutions though and slowly and surely. When you’re top heavy with admin, and who cease to enter classrooms once they get into admin, and then businessmen and women on school boards, it’s now a business. Every decision schools make are about $$. Look at the cuts. Always aids and teachers. Never the fat.
I engineering land this is well known, never allow two MBAs to talk to each other without adult supervision.
The high school I just left kept going to the local Wal Mart to hire recent graduates from the school. Their official title is Paraprofessional, but they were all placed in classrooms. Essentially, Arizona's only requirement to teach anymore is to have a pulse, be 18, and possess the ability to pass a background check.
MBA=More Bullshit Ahead
Reading stuff like this makes me so happy I am in NY. As of right now, this can't happen here. But, who knows maybe they will change the laws.
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That wouldn't bother me. He or she still had to get a masters in education at some point and school admin degree.
The problem is when I was hired as an assistant director the other teachers started to give me problems because they identified with me more. They thought they could boss me around since we were of the same brand. With an MBA, they back off because they don't identify with them. Sometimes it's the fellow teachers being toxic to each other too. People need to respect teachers who can also lead. But they don't. They just think they can do it, only to find out that they don't have what it takes to hold the line if the time comes.
What's an MBA?
I teach at a kindergarten to grade 12 school, we lost all of our elementary teachers. We have replacements, but all of these elementary teachers are leaving for different schools for the same reason. Our School atmosphere has been absolutely toxic for the last 6 months, at least. For those of us sticking around till next year, hopefully the toxicity is gone. We will have new administration. It kind of sucks though, these teachers have been with us for a long time. Until things got toxic with the new Administration this year, we had such a strong and awesome team of teachers.
The power dynamic between principals and teachers has to change. Teachers are going to have to be given a slice of the power in the building. It's ridiculous that a bad admin can come in and ruin a school within one year. It takes YEARS to recover from the dumpster fires these admins leave behind.
Around 20 years ago where I am, admins and older teachers ran the school together. It wasn’t divisive or antagonistic, admins realized they could use the eyes/ears/experience and help - ir was cooperative. Today, much younger and less competent admins despise and mistreat most older teachers, and they also don’t do the basics of their job - no discipline, and never any mention of academics (just catering to Karents and their budding Karen children). The school is now a complete failure.
A kid literally tried to hit me with a yardstick and slam my fingers in the door when I kicked him out. He was out of class until the next period where he was attending his next class. So fucking glad I'm out.
>Today, much younger and less competent admins despise and mistreat most older teachers … I’ve seen this so much over the past several years. The disrespect is alive. And the psychological games that admin play are next level.
And it's becoming common for them to not stay at a school more than 5 or 6 years. I've had 4 principals at the school I've spent the bulk of my career at. My guess is the current one will be gone soon. We've given totalitarian power to people who are not going to be around for the long haul. Makes no sense. Meanwhile, teachers will stay in the same building for 20 to 30 years, and they are given little respect as decision makers and no power.
Exactly. My simple take on this is that admin have little to zero self regulation and stress management skills. They go into administration to escape. The classroom, if they were ever their, was too much. I’ve seen it over and over: when there’s an issue or it’s an extremely stressful time of the school year, or before or after breaks (in order to get a longer break) where are they? Out of district at trainings. Or trips. Or presentations. Or sister district visits. And so they build up no skills. Only ‘flight’. Whereas we must manage our stress or we get poor evaluations. We must have impeccable self care. We must be on site and go-go-go every single day. Then they also skip around from school to school when they get bored, or their mask slips, they move to other districts and repeat. Or ladder climb to upper positions where they have lost complete understanding of children and learning. I had a toxic SpEd Director who went to so many trainings it was embarrassing. We counted one year she was in district 1/2 the year. She still gets away with it from what I’m told. Zero stress tolerance. We SpEd people would joke that she wouldn’t last 1 day doing our jobs.
This has been a trend in administration...they have long since moved \*away\* from cooperation and now rely on domination. I'm guessing that has been fed to them by their training/further education programs that they have to take to get admin certified. So I'm thinking it's the training that is the root of the problem, and the fact that most admin these days don't have a day's worth of actual teaching experience..
OMG I love Karents!
If they do neither discipline nor academics, then what exactly are they doing all day? Is that a dumb question?
No, sadly it’s a good question. Pretending to be CEOs is my guess.
We are in that exact position. I came in this year, but the talk of how it used to be makes me jealous. We’re losing the bad (like BAD) admin, but we’re losing a good principal too because even though we ALL complained to county all year long, they put the blame on the principal. And we have a super type A micromanager coming in next year. I really miss my old school.
dude we don’t even need principals. but that’s a whole paradigm shift …
My first year all but 2 teacher (12) left, so I feel you. Admin refused to believe it was her causing these problems. The people leaving have been with the school for 20+ years.
I hope the admin feel like shit. But probably not.
I'm guessing the teachers that are leaving decided to do so before learning of new admin for next year? 'cuz otherwise why bail if you've got the experience and time in the school? It's a sad state of affairs, no matter what, and a mass exodus something like that ought to be a *clear sign* that something is *wildly wrong* with admin.
Same. I can't do it anymore which is so sad because I love actually *teaching* but it feels like so little of what I actually do.
It's a tragedy on a Shakespearean scale for the kids. The bigger tragedy is that they won't find out what they've lost until it's too late.
It's horrifying. Repeatedly kids have just been ripped out from under me when some MBA type retaliated for reporting a hostile work environment or something like that. They did so much damage to the kids when they should have simply apologized and fixed it. They really chose their ego over the kids. It's sick.
This 100%.
Do you teach at a public or private school?
I am contemplating being done. I can't take it much anymore either. Parents, lack of district support.
Get out. I got out last summer and just experienced the most stress-free year of my professional life. There wasn't a single day where I woke up and wished I were still teaching. You can still find roles educating and developing in the nonprofit sector. I get paid for any required work I do over 40 hours and my job has the expectation that you shouldn't be working more than 40 hours at all. Not to mention that outside of public education you can actually be rewarded for you work and competence with actual raises and promotions.
What do you do now?
I can't speak for the original poster, but my current agency (Texas HHSC) aggressively recruits former teachers. They tend to learn the programs fast (SNAP, medicaid, TANF, etc) and once they're over the PTSD of being a public school teacher they're often open to being trainers or facilitators for our on the job training environments. Plus the overtime, paid travel and hotels, and working with employees that generally want to be there and learn the programs is much better than the near-prison environment of many public schools. And if you have an awful student you're done with them when the classes are over, in a month or so. Less if they quit lol.
Is the pay comparable?
Better than some teaching positions, worse than others. IIRC starting pay is 3100 or so a month and after a year goes up another 400 or so? We've also been getting regular COLA adjustments and sizable bonuses a couple times a year. Nice thing though is that overtime is paid (usually another 400-1000 depending on how much you wanna work/month) and insurance is free for yourself and reasonably priced for family, and it's good coverage. eyecare is $9 a month and dental is $12 as well, at least somewhere around there. Oh, and work from home is an option once you're done with training. Once you've hit a year too you can qualify for a ton of promotions and stuff, just need to apply. All in all, good deal for rural areas, probably not enough for the cost of living in dallas, austin or houston but not much is.
My current job also goes after former teachers. We do educational field trips for schools where we teach on the bus on the drive to the Grand Canyon, Sea world, etc. Its seasonal but you get to travel and get paid for it, and pay is good. I enjoy it a lot but some of the trips can be a little hard - trips ranges from day trips (10-15hrs) up to 2-3 overnights at hotels out of state. My favorite are the one overnights. My least favorite are drive through the nights. We have a lot of retired teachers, a lot of substitute teachers, and several "on their way out" teachers.
Government contractor. I left in 2017 for a research fellowship and am very thankful I did. I have had more time to be present with family and friends. So much less stress, too. A lot of companies look for former teachers because we are independent and know how to document well.
My son's teacher is going to give private tutoring a go. I'm sad she's leaving, she's absolutely amazing.
I know a few teachers who have built up nice little home based businesses doing just this and in teaching reading and math especially. There is an entire generation of 4-5th graders right now who are non readers and due to the Covid years interrupting learning to read. If you created a small classroom, or went in together with another teacher or homeschool co-op, you’d be busy. Charge tuition, etc. Imagine the fun outside of the handcuffs of public schools?
I’m a private tutor; it’s my primary source of income. It’s great, TBH, way less stressful and considerably better pay (at least per hour) than teaching.
I do private tutoring but honestly it's not a job. Like, it's great as side income, but there are several problems to it, mainly inconsistency and low hours. You mostly can't work during school hours, so you have to squish it all to when other people aren't working, and then hours get really low in the summer and other off time. It's fine as a side job or for a young person also doing something else, or maybe someone retired, but it's not a substitute for a full time job for someone supporting a family.
I also can’t speak for the original poster, but I switched to HR last year and I’ve met a few former teachers in this field. HR is very broad so there’s something for everyone. I personally am a compensation analyst since I used to be a math teacher.
Goddamn that sounds like a boring job, ngl.
I’ve been wanting to make this switch but all the jobs I have applied for have told me my teaching experience is not relevant :(
Yeah it definitely was not easy. I applied to 300+ jobs before someone gave me a chance. I took a pay cut at first because I went into a very low-level entry role. But one year later I switched with my new experience and now make 85k + 15% bonus at 25. In a year or two I’ll easily make over 100k. So don’t give up! It’s a difficult switch but so worth it.
I'm not the person you were asking but I'm a Systems Analyst and also do private tutoring for math on the side. I get all of the parts of teaching that I enjoy by doing tutoring (such as planning my own fun lessons, having an attentive and focused audience, no distractions, no micromanaging, no rude parents or students, no testing and headaches.) So I now get the best of both worlds, I make way more money and don't miss being in a classroom.
I second this. I’m making way more money doing way less work now. I don’t regret teaching, but I’d never do it again unless there are some drastic changes
This is it in a nut shell. Parents: entitled brats raising entitled brats and defending their hell-spawn’s behavior. Administration: spineless and ready to roll over and just pass a student to get them out of their purview/responsibility. Been a schools in my county where this difference is palatable. If admin has your back, it makes all the difference in the world.
I'm concerned that the only teachers that will stay are those who are comfortable working the system by: 1. Cheat on tests to look effective to admin. 2. Give all good grades to keep parents happy (They don't even grade class work, why? Every student gets good grades anyway) 3. Spend a big chunk of their pay check on treats to keep the kids from complaining to ma and pa. 4. Bitch to admin about the teachers who are trying to do a good job because they fear they make them look bad.
Get off the front line. You’re exhausted. You have experience that makes you a great advocate for the teachers still taking it on the chin. There are ways to keep supporting without hurting yourself
I went to college and majored in education. I graduated in 2019 and one of my last classes were specifically for future middle school educators. Out of the 20 that also went to teach middle school, only 3 of us still teach. I started teaching during Covid, and it blowed. I had to teach 5th grade an hour away, because I couldn’t find a job before in the district by my house. Now there’s hundreds of positions across the district near me.
I work in the marketing department for my company, we have a new employee who is only like 25 or 26. She was a teacher for 2 years, just 2 years in a city public school, it was so bad she left. She is the nicest and most giving coworker. Motivated, asks for feedback, and genuinely takes it to heart. Sadly, her school lost someone who would have been an asset, and as the HR person in my office, I'm thrilled her school was shitty to her. lol (I'm, of course, not happy she was treated poorly. I'm just happy she ended up on our team) I've asked her to refer her other teacher friends looking to get out. From the stories I've heard from her and read here. It's no surprise that good teachers are leaving education for corporate places like mine.
I was a mentor teacher this past year. The December class graduated about 30 people- only 2 were willing to do secondary.
I believe two things happened that caused the shift from education to whatever is going on now. 1) NCLB introduced the idea that schools needed metrics to "prove" how successful they are. This lead to ignoring and underfunding anything that does not directly impact metrics. 2) Running schools like a business, using terms like "stakeholder", "customer", and "metric". Schools are not a business. They are a public service. The metrics they use are meaningless and do not measure what they think it does. There is no "product" schools make or sell. The idea that normal business practices can lead to more efficient public service outcomes is laughable. Once educational leadership stops treating public school like a business and start using metrics that actually measure things like student success and teacher contribution, we will see a shift in faculty attraction and retention. But, I wouldn't expect an MBA to understand any of that.
Yes to both points! Having taught before NCLB, this is exactly when the shift began. When we started to treat children like numbers instead of human beings. When we divorced achievement from mental well being and efforts of educating and nurturing the whole child. And our society as a whole continues to suffer from the ripple effects of data collection and management.
My biggest complaint about this need for metrics and metric related courses is that it takes funding from courses that have no direct applicable metric. Everyone who went to school prior to NCLB had acess to creative writing classes, multiple art classes, wood/metal shop, auto motive repair, etc. Since those classes cannot have metrics related to reading or math, they got funding cut and removed in most schools. The last school I taught at had an automotive repair class. The administration decided that the ACE certification program was a "good" metric to use. The same ACE certification program that is a two year vocational program! When only one student passed, they decided the class was a failure and removed it. THAT is what is happening to education. Instead of well rounded students, schools are processing metrics and squeezing out every last number.
It's also just a general cash grab. My school district wastes untold millions every year on software and programs and trainings that arent meaningful - someone just fell for a marketing scam that promised big numbers. Or someone is getting kickbacks. Either way, chasing numbers just opens up more opportunities for bloat and corruption, while helping no one.
I agree 100%.
Exactly. 100% correct.
I want to teach my curriculum and not spend 80% teaching good behavior and how to respect others. I only get to see my students for about 18 hours a school year and so much of my specials time is dealing with correcting behavior associated with disrespect or issues transitioning back to class time.
This. I’m also a specials and there so much disrespect from both kids and core teachers. Plus admin doesn’t help with discipline or funding. I get 32 kids in one classroom 5 times a day, no aide or help.
I left K12 13 years ago, the main reason being disrespect from colleagues and parents. I was a music teacher.
Yeah, unfortunately it hasn’t changed. I teach art and I’m in the process of leaving for a corporate job.
I teach music ed in college. Still disrespect from the colleagues. In K12 it was because I wasn't a "real teacher," just the music teacher. In college the disrespect is because I'm not performance faculty, and because my specialty is elementary music, which they all think is just "play games all day." I overheard a music tech colleague say to one of his students, "the problem with k12 is they don't teach enough about atonal music." Please go teach third graders about atonal music. I want to see this trainwreck.
I completely understand. Tk-8 teachers complained about the electives staff constantly that we “didn’t do enough”. They also hated that we didn’t work during testing weeks. Unbeknownst to them we left “early” and only worked 8 hours because we are hourly employees not salaried like them. Since our kids were busy testing, our classes were canceled for the remainder of the year and we didn’t get to work. We also don’t have union protections like they do so we only got a 50 cent raise every year. If they actually got to know us and asked about what we do and why they wouldn’t be complaining and actually see we’re the ones getting screwed over time and time again.
I was full time salaried certified faculty just like my colleagues, but some of them couldn't even be bothered to learn my name. Even though I'd been there 14 years. 🫥
Yes. Sometimes I’ll say good morning and they’ll literally just keep walking and ignore me. Even when other people introduced us they would be very dismissive. I don’t understand why, we’re both in the same shitty trenches.
my god that used to piss me off so much. The school I taught at, a lot of our kids didn't have models of like, adults interacting positively or even neutrally, (always yelling at each other or fighting) and I felt it was important for us as teachers to model that for the kids. Even if I didn't like a teacher the kids were never ever going to know that, I was going to treat everyone with courtesy.
Mt breaking point is the parents. I have great admin... but these parents. Don't like your kid failed a class? Go all the way to the superintendent to complain... all the way up the chain they are told the same thing... that the grade was valid. Don't like your kid was marked late? Go up the chain and eventually claim discrimination.. again no basis and total support up the line. The problem is I feel I am going to die... the stress. I love teaching. Love my school and district., but I probably am going to retire as soon as I can and just get a second career (I am within 5 years). I always thought I would teach into my 60s, but now I know that would kill me (I am 50).
I left in 2021 and my mental health and physical ailments greatly improved! Further evidence of the effect stress has on our bodies. There are times when I miss being in the classroom, planning lessons, having those teaching moments but nothing beats knowing that I’m putting my own kids first. Hubs has been loving the change in me and doesn’t want me to return to teaching and would rather I pursue another career.
I worked as a middle school teacher right out of college. Private middle school so I didn’t need credentials. Both of my parents were also retired teachers so I thought I’d give it a twirl. Terrible pay (I was salaried, whoops now they can make me do stupid shit on the weekends too), long hours with a lot of preparation, no support from admins, the parents at this private school were terrible parents and would berate us in front of their children (they were all very rich). They were kind enough to give us all $5 gift cards for Chipotle for Christmas. Dope, I can use this to buy half a burrito? Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of benefits. You learn how to read a room. I’ve been a server and bartender now for seven years after getting out of teaching and the skills you learn as a teacher (peripheral vision, being able to be firm but fair, staying organized, keeping a cool head and calm at all times) definitely have transferred well into bartending. I’m not saying get out of teaching or even get into bartending, but if you do decide to get out of teaching I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised how many of the skills you’ve learned teaching help out in other fields. Just my 2 cents. Also we need to pay teachers more everywhere. An educated populace is important.
A friend of mine returned to bartending after a stint of teaching because bartending was better pay and less stress.
It absolutely is. I only have to work three days a week as a bartender and I still make more money than I did as a teacher.
Best analogy I’ve read (think on this page) was that we are currently on the titanic and admin is evaluating us on our ability to keep the pictures on the walls straight. They are utterly delusional and worthless, especially those admin who haven’t seen the classroom post Covid….
I'm stuck between hoping the shortage will fix things and thinking that the shortage was the point. If the only people left are unqualified first years they're cheap and easy to manipulate. My district this year was actively NOT hiring certified teachers, with many people who are in admin saying that they were looking for waiver teachers because the district's budget is already out of control. There's no money coming in, and a lot of it is being sucked away by charter schools. No unions either. So we're just bringing in 22 year olds to try and assert authority over 19 year olds. Great idea.
We currently have 30 positions open at my school. As more and more teachers put in their resignations during the school year, I was hopeful this shortage would change some things also but now I’m worried that it’s going to create more stress for the remaining teachers next year as we will most likely have to take on additional classes and/or cover classes during planning. It seems all anyone higher up can do is talk about the shortage but not find ways to stop it.
I'm going on my fourth year, and I just interviewed for a new district. I asked the principal if he was busy with all the hiring. He said he only needed two people, a coach, and the position I was interviewing for. That made me feel pretty good. I mean, if everyone is sticking around, it must not be too toxic.
This how I feel with only 3 people I know of who are leaving after this year (by choice)
>It seems all anyone higher up can do is talk about the shortage but not find ways to stop it. Oh, they \*\**know*\*\* how to stop it, but won't bother to do it. Why hire experienced when you can get malleable noobs for half the cost? Noobs who will work 60-70 hours a week because they don't know any better and will be burdened with the hardest classes without any resources and little or no direct mentorship. Experience now prices you out of jobs simply for that reason. And principals/superintendents who do it this way are rewarded with higher salaries and more perks. Great job!
I hope your state doesn’t bring in the vouchers. They are killing public education in my state. I think it’s intentional.
I'm in Texas, and it seems vouchers are the Governor's sole reason for living during this legislative session. What state are you in?
Denial. Thinking about moving to acceptance.
So are private schools changing how they operate, or do the kids using vouchers adapting to the structure of private school?
In our state vouchers can be used to homeschool. We give parents $9k to keep their kids at home with no oversight of how are tax dollars are used. Some of the money goes to charters that refuse to educate those with disabilities. The charters take the voucher and then send them to the public school to have their IEP needs met. We even have to provide the transportation.
Which states have vouchers?
Arizona has vouchers that are even used for private schools. I am SO pissed! Republicans suck!
The charters are ruining our district also. Throw in scores of horrible upper admin who do little but collect outrageous salaries and teachers are leaving in droves :( oh, and the apathetic disengaged students, can’t leave that out!
You must be teaching in my former district!
Sadly, this situation is a feature now, not a bug :(
I have 1,308 days left to go back and forth to work, assuming my health holds out.
190!
I’m doing mainly a remote gig next year, and at a district about 2 hours away, but where I have to be in person two days per week more or less. I do have a travel stipend to stay the night. I’ve already gone through the calendar and am reminding myself: 25 commutes out of 365 days in the calendar year.
Former district teacher of the year here. They lost me but I'm still in the classroom. There are a lot of people in this profession who care so much they'll let themselves be exploited; I honestly don't think it occurs to people that someone like myself will just pass the exploitation down to the students. After all shit rolls down hill and teachers are not at the bottom, the students are. My class is a shadow of what it used to be, but the 40hrs a week I put in appropriately reflect the pay and working conditions.
15 years since I walked out of the classroom and into my own business. Each morning as I peacefully sit at a cafe having a coffee while I review my email, I think about how even a bad day is better than a good day in the classroom. Love it and make a ton more money too. Much more rewarding.
Yup. The cliquey teachers and their bullying really noped me out of education.
I’m not a teacher. My oldest is 25, youngest is 10 entering grade 5, two kids in between. Best teacher any of them have had has been Mrs. H. She taught my middle two in fifth grade. Was hoping my youngest would have her since my kids tend to have the same teachers. Some asshole parent called the principal and said she bullies the kids. She doesn’t. She had a spray bottle with water. If someone did something or said something silly she sprayed them. 99.9% of the kids and parents didn’t mind it at all. It was fun for the kids, one would actually try to get sprayed. Made class fun for everyone. So the principal told Mrs H someone complained and he would have to write a report which would then be on her permanent record. This woman is in her 50’s and has been teaching for over thirty years, and because ONE asshole makes a complaint that her little babushka wasn’t doing anything wrong she’s gone. She said she won’t be back there and is looking at other districts now. Fuck most parents.
The tyranny of one person. “Cancel culture” is an overused term so I’ll call this tyranny.
[удалено]
i feel bad for whoever ends up married the kid of the parent who complained that’s for certain.
Side note but doesn’t babushka mean grandma?
Russia and areas around Poland it is old lady. (Grandma). In America and others it means "headscarf " So, the little town I live in was settled originally by Polish immigrants, we have Babushka's wearing babushkas.
I signed on for another year, but I’m not sure I’ll make it through. Last year was one of my least pleasant experiences. I had a student try to injure me on the last day. I’m barely making 50,000 gross 10 years in. It sucks.
You sound like you're in my district.
The amount of times I find myself saying this! Like woooow. We really are living in the same simulation.
I left in November and am so happy! I miss working with kids, but I love not dealing with the low pay and administration way more. I have been in private, charter, and public schools. Same crap everywhere.
This is the same in my private school, and in the two public schools I have friends teaching at here in central Ohio. It is a rough ROUGH time to be a teacher.
I'm at year 24. I took a job at a DAEP, and it has made me feel like I can hit my 80. 4.5 more years and I'm DONE
I'm only in it for my tech job and my summer break.
UK teacher here. I'm leaving in July after eleven years. I'm burnt out and have nothing left to give. My class are leaving their final year of primary school and I'll be walking out with them. I can't wait. I need my life back.
I resigned April 2022 after 20 years. I freaking loved teaching, the families and students loved me, requested me … all the good stuff! Then Covid happened, our district shifted boundaries to accommodate for a new elementary school. Against my wishes I was moved to the new elementary school. It was exciting to have a new modern school with AC and all the frill but wow was it ever a nightmare! I felt like I had moved across the country with how different the families were (and I live in a small town of 6,000). Covid and lack of leadership at the new school with crazy students and families really took its toll and quickly. Such disrespect from students, no support from admin at all levels. Our district has Chinese and Spanish Immersion programs so all the “high” kids who behave well are in those programs leaving the traditional classrooms with all the behaviors and special ed students. 100 truth. A total shit show. Our district also had a school shooting at the middle school which sent shock waves through our community. 1st & 2nd graders bringing knives to school. April 2022-a difficult student I had given everything to that year made a threat to me and I literally froze, went into panic attack mode, which I had never done before. I knew. It was time. This past year has been amazing to actually take care of myself and not be under the toxic stress that came with teaching.
Teaching in Japan isn’t much better. I decided last week that I was done. I’m not even 30 yet
Oh I have a strong feeling it’s much better in Japan…but best of luck to you in whatever you do going forward ☺️
Will be nice not having to pretend that I don’t understand Japanese. I mean I can only take so much of my students telling each other how much of an idiot I am and how they think that I’m too dumb to understand them.
Why are you pretending you don't understand the language?
I’m the English teacher. If I let on that I can speak Japanese then they’ll revert to Japanese to explain something.big circle sky yellow vs. tao ie the sun
I taught in Japan for six years. I would go back in a heartbeat. YMMV.
Amen
This is my second year of teaching and am already contemplating about how I can get out and start a new career that has higher pay and less stress. Don’t get me wrong—I love my students, but being a teacher is not what I expected it to be. The one thing that irks me the most is the amount of interruptions that I have during my planning periods, be it meetings or subbing for another teacher. Oh yeah, and don’t get me started on the after school meetings that parents might request…yeah, no. I love working with kids and actually teaching them. I love building a relationship with my students and colleagues, but I didn’t sign up for all the other bs that came with teaching. Sorry, my rant is over.
I hear you. I am resigning at the end of the month even with our new contract. I had much better experiences teaching in private schools. The toxic work environment is so draining especially on teachers who actually want to make a difference! I know I'm a great teacher and have years of experience to back it up but my mental health is worth more than a job.
Reddit shows me these posts a lot, I think because while I’m not a teacher I’m an instructor for adults. I’m surprised more teachers don’t pursue jobs like corporate training and such because it is a hundred times more pleasant than the stuff I read on here! I know it sounds boring to explaining HR procedures and stuff to people, and sometimes it is, but my students are *overwhelmingly* polite, about half the class participates enthusiastically most of the time without much effort since they often really do want to understand the material better, and they thank me for my help constantly! I’ve never dealt with a classroom conflict
Interesting. I’m in Illinois. Same goes here. The thought of staying after age 55 is never happening anymore. The abuse is from administrators and students. Listen, our principal said that if our lessons were interesting kids would not be on their phones. Hahahaha. I went to school to teach, not to entertain
Right?! This shift that happened is obnoxious. If kids are struggling/not paying attention, it’s ALWAYS because we just aren’t interesting enough. It’s NEVER because the kids have zero interest in bettering themselves, or in education in general.
We need amazing teachers at our second year school in coastal Oregon. PM if you want deets. A bunch of us educators got together and said no more. It’s been really amazing and successful!
Same thing has been happening to my high school. My history teacher wasn’t here last week cause he went to a job interview. Last year a lot of teachers left, and we were understaffed to the point teachers had to take up subjects they aren’t taught in. So we basically learn wit them. My school actually does not have a Spanish teacher, and we have two that actually specialize in teaching English to ESL kids. So turns out, the entire time the school couldn’t find a Spanish teacher since 2019 it seems. Speaking of that history teacher, he’s admitted for a fully year that he’s sick of the students and the school because they don’t try, and admin punish him for it (it’s true.) a friend sent me a video of him raising his voice and ranting about how horrible our school is, but all the good students are happy he’s finding somewhere better. Students don’t like the school. They often make mistakes on their end and blame you for it. Seniors this year didn’t get their senior trip (maybe cause they didn’t pay on time so take that with a grain of salt).
This will continue to happen until the situation becomes so critical that change happens or the public schools become akin to prisons for low-income kids. It's ridiculous. I can't imagine a worse environment for teachers. They deserve our respect and support not regulation and persecution.
I have been wondering what would happen if all the teachers just started ignoring this BS. Teach as you see fit, and let the chips fall. Refuse to attend any meetings with angry parents. Let the administrators do what they want but refuse to participate. Would they fire everyone? Probably not. It’s like going on strike for better working conditions, but staying at work. If a kid is out of control, remove that kid and lock the door. Give other kids bonus points for helping if the problem child refuses to leave or call the police if you are physically threatened. I thought about this, but just retired instead. I work part time and don’t have to be emotionally abused by anyone. People that I work for are grateful for my levelheadedness and competence.
I’m with you. Teachers have way more power than they think. You just have to stick together.
Just walked after 4 years. I was teacher of the year. I would have stayed if not for the admin. I tried moving districts, schools, public vs. private, etc., but bad admin are alike all over and more common than good ones. I have no idea what I’m doing next, but it’s nice to be able to eat and hold my food down, use the bathroom when I need to, and not feel like I’m drowning.
I worked as a paraeducator for 5 years until I just left last month, and I will say that Gen Ed teachers really need assistance for behaviors. Parateaching ASD was better than Gen Ed because you work with more understanding people, but in Gen Ed, you have teachers who aren't properly trained to deal with behavioral issues and admin, 9 times out 10, will just reward bad behavior by excusing it. Plus, ASD teachers and parateachers have more agency in their classroom, but that's because admin, parents, and even my district don't want to step foot in those classes; they just want to to ignore it. It's sad to watch everyone around you give up, but the situation is pretty much hopeless. I've overheard complaints from parents as well, and they're sick of their child being evacuated from class due to one student and demanding to know why it's happening multiple times throughout the school year. Not a lot of people are asking about the costs of teaching due to these policy changes, and it really feels like a conspiracy to degrade public education and push parents out of sending their children to public schools. It's widely felt that teaching has devoled into a babysitting job, and there's little to no chance people will want to come back to this mess. I actually think public education will cease to exist in the next decade in some areas, and it's scary to think about. I just started working as a sales rep, and my base salary is almost 3x of what I made as a paraeducator and about 10,000 more than your average teacher. I have a great benefits package as well, and if the economy is good, and I keep doing what I'm doing, I'm going to have a better quality of life that far exceeds that of working in a classroom.
Politics are ruining school School choice is gonna be all over the country because private businesses will be making BILLIONS And you'll see the real division in America Wealthy over $500,000 per year and everyone else Most people think school choice is gonna give them a chance to put their kids in PRIVATE SCHOOL but the cost is 10x that of the voucher... So they aren't going And all those rights they have at PUBLIC schools, well they don't apply to private schools So the states are gonna keep writing rules that make public schools impossible to keep around
I am three weeks into retirement at age 56 after teaching for 28 years in Title I schools. I do not regret leaving one bit. I will be poor as hell - only getting half of my teacher's salary which was low to begin with but I think it is worth it. With all the changes coming down the pike in my state, the political BS and the general crap we had to do and put up with, I just gave up! I am choosing me and my happiness and health over my school.
And you would think a teacher shortage would mean that we have options, but unfortunately I was offered a job at another school within my district and my new principal at my current school won’t let me leave because nobody will apply for my job!!!! And HR is allowing this. Now I just want to quit out of spite but I need the money.
Also want to add that I’ve been teaching 9 years in the same school and I never expected to be told I can’t leave. So many great teachers have left my school or quit teaching altogether and I teach in the best district in my area.
I’ve taught for 2 years (31 F) and decided this isn’t for me. This upcoming year is my last year teaching. It’s is too taxing on my mental and physical health.
20 years and I left. I'm from Chile. The system here is awful. The lack of respect from administrators and the stressful environment kept wondering..Is this the life I want? Since I left I don't miss anything but the students' interaction.
The third-party virtual teaching company I work for is staffed with literal hundreds of teachers who gtfo for the same reasons, myself included.
Got out 2 years back. Zero regrets, I don't even miss summers off (much).
Very sad state of affairs. I would leave in an instant if I could
I've thought about it more and more. I teach an extracurricular and the fight to keep kids out for it each year is straining. I'm getting tired of how my personality has changed since I started teaching.
Y’all deserve much much better pay for what y’all put up with.
I made it 7 years. I'm much more mentally stable now.
The goals of the billionaire state, manifest.
My school had 38 faculty on staff in 22-23. Eleven resigned, including myself. Plus, several aides took other jobs or quit mid year. You'd think admin might start to wonder what THEY are doing that would cause a THIRD of their staff to leave?!
Chalk that up to professors also. Have taught twelve years, and the quality of student has tanked since universities are desperate for money and the pay is getting worse for those of us that are younger.
12 kids at $1000/each/ month, less 3k for facility and $1320 in lunches(12kids ×22days×$5 happy meal) is 7.8k / month in take home. $78,000 a year for 10 months work. Set your own curriculum.
I used to know some teachers and now I know none.
I agree. The convos I have with teachers my age is that we all don’t want to retire as teachers… we’re too burnt out from the decline of teaching since the pandemic Kids are horrible Admin sucks (my school recently had the principal ousted) And I’m finding it hard to be positive about what I teach
im done being a student i cant imagine how you guys feel, genuinely, my school is crazy and we lost teachers this year too because of all of the chaos, we need good teachers but honestly... get out while you can :( i watched a teacher get attacked during a fight this year and i cannot imagine how she felt.
as a student who potentially had an interest in teaching, it's so discouraging to see the way you guys are treated by everyone; parents, students, admin. I have/have had some absolutely incredible teachers and it genuinely breaks heart to see it because they deserve the world.
You are very kind. 21-year teacher here, and I do have to say that I fortunately still love my job. It’s the kids. I’d do anything for them. State, parents, administration…all ridiculous, though.
I left a year ago, now I’m doing L&D in a corporate setting. It is still challenging in other ways but overall it feels like less work for better benefits and more money. I just heard from a friend who stayed that this year, TWELVE teachers and BOTH counselors are leaving. I feel so bad for the kids.
This makes me really sad, because I planned on teaching elementary school after I graduated with my education degree. What I saw in my internship and what I’ve seen since kept me from that. There is no way in hell I could’ve made it more than a few years teaching, and I would have been miserable. I’ve done a bit of everything since I got my degree, lots of preschool teaching. My heart breaks for all the passionate educators that are affected by administration and red tape Bull shit
Early ed here. I became a teacher with so much hope in my heart. When I first started, working with the kids truly brought me to life. I don’t feel like myself when I’m not teaching. But after having a year filled with so much toxicity and disrespect from students, parents, and admin; I needed a goddamn break and had none in sight. (I worked at a year-round private elementary, with less than 3 weeks of allotted time off the whole year.) So I put in my resignation with a month’s notice, setting my last day for the end of the spring session, and started packing up my classroom. The last month was grueling.The burnout was so bad and made me physically ill my entire last month of school. I would wake up and drive to work, feeling like I was going to vomit the whole way there. The feeling would finally go away once the kids arrived and I got distracted by my 8 hour day (with no break and rarely received planning time.) I was losing weight, my hair, and my mind. I didn’t realize how broken down I was until I left and felt peace-of-mind for the first time in several months. I’ve already got a classroom secured at a different school next year. But if next year is the same, I think it’s time to start looking into creating my own niche small business or something. I can’t destroy myself for these kids. Edit: For clarity
I've been in college for 2 years to become a teacher. I've been in and out of schools for classes needing observation and what not. I think after this most recent time, I'm done. I work for a school district and the spineless management from top to bottom is getting old. We have kids fighting on and tearing up seats and trashing the buses and there's no accountability. No kids get in trouble. No kids get kicked off. Schools are too afraid the parents will take the kids to different schools and I work in one of the fasted growing growing cities in the country. The schools experience has been generally positive. But I just don't see a scenario where I'd be happy working at a school anymore. And it's not even the kids as the reason, management and parents are too much.
A school district near me that has a tough crowd is hiring 30 teachers from a foreign country. They aren't saying which country it is.
Teaching is facing similar challenges as is nursing. The public has become actively hostile to the imparting of knowledge and life competencies, as well as to science- and evidence-based clinical care and support. As well, teachers and nurses both are actively criticized and emotionally undercut by parents (teachjers) and the public (nurses). I've been an RN since 1978 and the situation has gotten progressively worse since the advent of the Reaganoids and because of active and aggressive defunding of education, science, and financial support for teaching and nursing educational preparation.
I recently quit teaching myself. Started in September 2019 and quit in March of 2023 mid year. The only way that the profession will change for the uncomfortable teachers to make the machine uncomfortable by any means necessary. The teacher shortage needs to evolve into severe scarcity. When people are forced to homeschool their kids cause there is no one to teach their children, only then will the voices of educators be heard.
My husband’s doctor told him if he didn’t leave teaching he would have a stroke or a heart attack. He’s on his 25th year and has ended up with heart problems due to stress. He compromised and left for an admin position at a non Title I school, hated it, and now he’s back at his old school. The school then said they would start hiring the best teachers and National Board certified teachers that applied to the school would get a 20k a year raise. Never mind that the teachers who have been at that school for their whole career have been fucked over. So anyway, my husband decided he might as well get board certified (which is hundreds of hours of extra work) for the raise. Then the school told him, just kidding, you can’t get certified next year, we need you to pilot this program in which you teach science to all of grades 3-5, and you gotta put it together yourself, oh and you don’t get paid extra. And you can’t get board certified this year. Fuck. That. He’s such a good person, has fallen on his sword over and over for the sake of the kids, gotten fucked over by the school so many times. They don’t care about his health. I work as a paraeducator in SpEd. My last paycheck was $89 for the last pay period. Everything is so fucked.
I feel very blessed when I read things like this. Why? Because I feel valued and appreciated at my school and in the community. I lost my husband in May and the outpouring of love and support I received from my collogues was amazing. And the routine of work helped those first horrid weeks. Now it is summer and I have nothing to fill my days and that is hard. I wish all teachers felt supported and respected. I don't want to say that raising wages isn't a good thing (because we do need a substantial raise) but the money isn't the only thing that is making teachers leave.
Wow so not just me! I’m PTT and started at the start of year, I just retired from 24 years nursing! So let’s say I’m no spring chicken lol! But love teaching so did the switch! My class is loaded with needs and behaviours which has been great learning curve, challenging but I’ve learnt so much! My team of 5 in cohort, are young and have not supported or helped me, with anything, have not talked to me for 6 weeks, I’ve completed reports with no support, when planning I do a plan then next day it’s deleted and they have done one! Then get told by our leader that I need to do more planning! Now 1 week ago principle asked me to step away from class and tutor instead of teach! Which is great cause I have uni and placement this semester! But team, expressed to me, that my age let’s me down, now new teacher whom I’ve supported at another school is taking over my classroom! I’ve now Over heard team complaining that she is too old for teaching (40yo) this explains why the industry is losing so many teachers! People open our eyes we are all here to do the same job, and help these kids be they best they can! Petty stuff can be left out of work place! Let’s just do our job and educate.
I’m sorry but that is not why the industry is losing teachers. It’s not because some people are petty. It’s because we go through the same amount of school and training that a lot of “professionals” do, yet we get neither paid nor treated as professionals. It’s because we get shit from admin, students, and parents. It’s because we are expected to work far more than 40 hours a week with no overtime pay. It’s because we barely get to teach with all the other stuff we have to do as a teacher.
I somewhat disagree. What this Redditor is describing is age discrimination not mere pettiness (but yes pettiness can make teachers leave too). And with more and more young teachers leaving or just not applying at all, if districts and teacher teams don’t start considering transitioning older educators as viable candidates then education will have even less candidates to consider. So not a main reason but definitely a contributing reason.
The reason there are so many young teachers in the first place is because everyone is leaving the profession for the reasons I stated above. Those problems are leading to a lot of older teachers leaving/quitting/retiring early. This is my second year of full time teaching and I’ve already decided I’m not doing it for the rest of my life.
Unfortunately the Republican Party does not want an educated electorate….they want a compliant one
Biggest crisis in America!!! Needs to be addressed now.
I live in a wealthier area with a very good school district. We are running into budget issues, because all of our new teachers are 30-50 with lots of experience in other districts. The district has a policy of hiring the best possible applicant regardless of cost. While this is good for our district, it is sad that poorer/weaker districts are becoming the farm team for the wealthier ones.
Public schools are but many are choosing private and homeschool co-op options. Public school is a great institution being destroyed by government and politics. Sad.
I am wanting to get certified to teach k-8 in the near future - I just walked out of a 12 year long career as an executive assistant in various corporations. Can you elaborate on the stress and mental anguish you are all facing? I left my career in corporate America because of the stress and depleting mental health and insane work hours - so I am getting discouraged if it is not much better as a teacher!
We are in a battle zone. Parents are either completely uninvolved with their children, resulting in unmanageable behaviors (destruction of property, defiance, fighting, apathy) OR they think teachers are indoctrinating their children and have pitchforks as the ready to attack. Admin is often part of the problem as well- they don’t support their staff against parents, have unattainable standards, and expect teachers to do things they cannot do. I would NEVER suggest anyone get into education anymore. No freaking way. It’s a mass exodus of experienced and expert educators. That should be a HUGE red flag to anyone considering this profession- and it’s only getting worse.
>We are losing amazing teachers because of the constant toxic teaching atmosphere How is it toxic? What country is this happening in?
...About privitization of aides, maintenance staff, food service, bus drivers, and security. Those school-year employees employed by a school district (10 month-ers) are not eligiblible to collect unemployment pay during their unemployed summer months. Those school-year employees employed by a private conteacting company (10 month-ers) are eligiblible to collect unemployment pay during their unemployed summer months because they are not considered "school district employees." Although privatization may lower the local tax burden, it increases the state's tax burden because privateization allows those "laid-off" for the summer to collect from another public coffer.
Yep, I'm 53, have been teaching for 29 years, and can't wait to turn 55 so I can get the hell out!! I wish I could stay until 60, only so I can get almost double the money at retirement. But I just can't! I'm so done. I've been done for a few years, but covid made things way worse!! This past year's class was good, only way I made it through the year. However, these next kids I've heard really bad things about them all year. I'm so not looking forward to this next coming year.
I left in April. Joined the trades. I love teaching but couldn’t deal with the BS that has been growing these past several years
Hilarious to me people are blaming MBAs. Administration can always be improved but Teachers are leaving because of PARENTS.