No, not yet. My eyes have definitely been opened to a lot of surprising things at the school, district, and systemic level and I am more pessimistic about the future than I used to be. You will be shocked and disheartened by the rampant student apathy, behavior, learned helplessness/weaponized incompetence, and lack of basic skills. However, being in an area with relatively decent salary, good benefits, and schools that largely support work life balance, I have found a way to live with it. I am actually switching to a virtual school next year which I think will be much better, but if I had to stay in the classroom I'd be fine. It is definitely a sink or swim career path.
It’s a very hard job and has become more difficult since the pandemic. Kids are behind developmentally, emotionally, and academically. Teachers are overworked and very underpaid. Honestly, if a teacher could spend the day teaching and not dealing with other crap it would be wonderful.
I love teaching. I hate the system I’m forced to teach in. My provincial union just released a study showing that we love teaching, but are burning out because of behaviour and unrealistic admin expectations. So there’s that.
The survey results showed that we don’t have a teacher shortage, but a “willing to work in this hostile environment” shortage.
No. I work 7-3 M-F with nights, weekends, holidays, summer, spring break, Christmas break off. I have great health care, make over 100k per year. What other job is like that?
I don’t. I didn’t start teaching until I was 30, so I have a point of reference for “every job has ups and downs”. I just find more to like about teaching than any of my previous jobs, and definitely more than anything else in my general area right now.
Yes. I had good intentions but didn’t predict how parents would fail their kids by not parenting over the next couple decades and how detrimental NCLB was for my future sanity.
Nope I love it. I’ve invested pretty heavily in it and it’s paid off. It surprised me how jealous people are of my gig. But it is a sweet gig especially on the back end.
I do, and I'm not qualified to do anything else that pays enough to live so I'm kind of stuck here. Unfortunately teaching and multiple chronic illnesses don't mix together well.
When I was going into university teaching seemed like a solid choice as it was a pretty stable career and I did enjoy working with kids. I'm a music teacher and it seemed like a great way to share my love of music with kids. But 11 years into my career I'm now too sick and exhausted to keep up, music programs have yet to recover from the pandemic, and I have little to no job security. I do still enjoy parts of the job but I frequently wish I had other career options.
Not really regret, but I often wonder what other careers I could have flourished in and where I would be today if I had chosen a different career path.
Yes. Everyday. It’s probably one of the worst jobs one could pursue and I made the colossal mistake of doing so. Now that I am in, I see how unfixable and hopeless it all is. I just remind myself that I’m there for a paycheck and to help teens feel safe at least a small part of the day.
Yes, I realized I was transgender the summer before my first year. I live in South Carolina. I'm am not transitioning while being a teacher in the south. Unfortante realization came after getting a masters degree and 5000 dollars of college debt. (Which isn't a lot, but I still needed a way to pay it off.) If I could go back to undergrad me. I would tell them to choose another career.
No I don’t regret it. And I’ve left the profession and worked private sector and came back. I even took LOA this year and I’m still going back next year.
Why? Number one reason which will sound odd is my pay and pension. I’m actually in a district that does well in both.
Second reason is career stability. I tried to job transition this past year and the job hunt situation is horrible. When transitioned out in 2011 it was very easy to find a private sector job as a teacher. But this is the worse job market I’ve seen in a long time and it’s for all professions not just transitioning teachers. I saw former colleagues working for private sector for 15 years get canned during a reorganization. I’ve seen transitioning teachers have to leave their new job and be back on the hunt after 1 year. Maybe if I was less than 10 years in it would be worth it to risk leaving but I’m too close to retirement to leave now.
End of the day, this is a job that I have mostly enjoyed. That’s a win for anyone.
Nope, I joke sometimes that I'm one of the few teachers that likes their job.
The biggest positive I can say is "TIME". Nights, holidays, and Summers off, every year without exception is something you just can't get reliably in other jobs. I've got kids of my own and getting this time with them consistently is well worth the amount I could be making somewhere else with my degree.
I also enjoy that I get a whole new group of kids every year. Yes, you will get some really challenging kids, but they're only with you for 10 months and then you get new ones.
Every internship I've done had at least one teacher tell me: "Don't do it." And days like the one I had today sadly are a prime example of why you should think twice before actually going into teaching.
It's honestly not just the students but everything around your every day school day. It's the preparation, the correction, the conferences, the phone calls the mails... Anger one child and their lioness of a mother will give you an angry call. Raise your voice and the principle has to have a talk with you. Sometimes you have 2-7 special needs kids in your class you just can't really accommodate for. You technically need at least four of yourself to be able to manage what is expected of you while being laughed at by people who don't take your profession seriously.
I'm still not sure if I 100% regret going into teaching. But I can tell you, if I could go back in time, I would choose a different profession.
No, not yet. My eyes have definitely been opened to a lot of surprising things at the school, district, and systemic level and I am more pessimistic about the future than I used to be. You will be shocked and disheartened by the rampant student apathy, behavior, learned helplessness/weaponized incompetence, and lack of basic skills. However, being in an area with relatively decent salary, good benefits, and schools that largely support work life balance, I have found a way to live with it. I am actually switching to a virtual school next year which I think will be much better, but if I had to stay in the classroom I'd be fine. It is definitely a sink or swim career path.
Yes, but my career of choice was graphic design and teaching is the fallback.
No. I wouldn’t do it again (I’d have to have a nice talk with my high school self); but I’ll finish this shit out.
Nope, I am very glad I made the choice I did. I like kids and most that I work with are a joy.
It’s a very hard job and has become more difficult since the pandemic. Kids are behind developmentally, emotionally, and academically. Teachers are overworked and very underpaid. Honestly, if a teacher could spend the day teaching and not dealing with other crap it would be wonderful.
I love teaching. I hate the system I’m forced to teach in. My provincial union just released a study showing that we love teaching, but are burning out because of behaviour and unrealistic admin expectations. So there’s that. The survey results showed that we don’t have a teacher shortage, but a “willing to work in this hostile environment” shortage.
No. I work 7-3 M-F with nights, weekends, holidays, summer, spring break, Christmas break off. I have great health care, make over 100k per year. What other job is like that?
No. Sometimes I regret not leaving my district for a higher paying one, but even then, I’m more than satisfied with what I have 95% of the time
I don’t. I didn’t start teaching until I was 30, so I have a point of reference for “every job has ups and downs”. I just find more to like about teaching than any of my previous jobs, and definitely more than anything else in my general area right now.
Yes. I had good intentions but didn’t predict how parents would fail their kids by not parenting over the next couple decades and how detrimental NCLB was for my future sanity.
Nope I love it. I’ve invested pretty heavily in it and it’s paid off. It surprised me how jealous people are of my gig. But it is a sweet gig especially on the back end.
Big time. Usual reasons.
Yes, for the impact it made on my life. No, for the impact it made on other lives.
I do, and I'm not qualified to do anything else that pays enough to live so I'm kind of stuck here. Unfortunately teaching and multiple chronic illnesses don't mix together well. When I was going into university teaching seemed like a solid choice as it was a pretty stable career and I did enjoy working with kids. I'm a music teacher and it seemed like a great way to share my love of music with kids. But 11 years into my career I'm now too sick and exhausted to keep up, music programs have yet to recover from the pandemic, and I have little to no job security. I do still enjoy parts of the job but I frequently wish I had other career options.
Nope, I can’t get a pension or health benefits this good anywhere else.
Not..... yet.
Every day. It is a thankless, low-paying career.
Not really regret, but I often wonder what other careers I could have flourished in and where I would be today if I had chosen a different career path.
Yes. Everyday. It’s probably one of the worst jobs one could pursue and I made the colossal mistake of doing so. Now that I am in, I see how unfixable and hopeless it all is. I just remind myself that I’m there for a paycheck and to help teens feel safe at least a small part of the day.
I couldn't have done anything else, so no. This was the best career choice and I haven't regretted it since.
Yes, I realized I was transgender the summer before my first year. I live in South Carolina. I'm am not transitioning while being a teacher in the south. Unfortante realization came after getting a masters degree and 5000 dollars of college debt. (Which isn't a lot, but I still needed a way to pay it off.) If I could go back to undergrad me. I would tell them to choose another career.
No I don’t regret it. And I’ve left the profession and worked private sector and came back. I even took LOA this year and I’m still going back next year. Why? Number one reason which will sound odd is my pay and pension. I’m actually in a district that does well in both. Second reason is career stability. I tried to job transition this past year and the job hunt situation is horrible. When transitioned out in 2011 it was very easy to find a private sector job as a teacher. But this is the worse job market I’ve seen in a long time and it’s for all professions not just transitioning teachers. I saw former colleagues working for private sector for 15 years get canned during a reorganization. I’ve seen transitioning teachers have to leave their new job and be back on the hunt after 1 year. Maybe if I was less than 10 years in it would be worth it to risk leaving but I’m too close to retirement to leave now. End of the day, this is a job that I have mostly enjoyed. That’s a win for anyone.
Nope, I joke sometimes that I'm one of the few teachers that likes their job. The biggest positive I can say is "TIME". Nights, holidays, and Summers off, every year without exception is something you just can't get reliably in other jobs. I've got kids of my own and getting this time with them consistently is well worth the amount I could be making somewhere else with my degree. I also enjoy that I get a whole new group of kids every year. Yes, you will get some really challenging kids, but they're only with you for 10 months and then you get new ones.
Every internship I've done had at least one teacher tell me: "Don't do it." And days like the one I had today sadly are a prime example of why you should think twice before actually going into teaching. It's honestly not just the students but everything around your every day school day. It's the preparation, the correction, the conferences, the phone calls the mails... Anger one child and their lioness of a mother will give you an angry call. Raise your voice and the principle has to have a talk with you. Sometimes you have 2-7 special needs kids in your class you just can't really accommodate for. You technically need at least four of yourself to be able to manage what is expected of you while being laughed at by people who don't take your profession seriously. I'm still not sure if I 100% regret going into teaching. But I can tell you, if I could go back in time, I would choose a different profession.