Why Teachers Are Leaving The Profession
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- čas přidán 12. 09. 2024
- This video was made in partnership with Teacher Goals. Follow them online for more exclusive content. For more videos hit the subscribe button and watch over 170 additional teacher videos on my channel. I also host a podcast, Crying in My Car: A Podcast for Teachers, as well as tour from time to time. Dates can be found on devincomedy.com
district: [doesn't care about teachers]
teachers: [quit]
district: surprised pikachu face
You are just an employee. You can be replaced. Learn to say "no" when you don't want to do something and the respect will come.
@@teacheradviser9257 therein lies one of the problems, however, as teaching is unlike any other job. It certainly should be unlike any other corporate job as it has next to none of the perks or benefits of such.
@@teacheradviser9257 and this right here, this attitude is why so many teachers are leaving. This doesn't work in most jobs and it doesn't work in teaching either.
@@WildflowersCreations I respect your perspective but I disagree. Teachers that have an emotional expectation tied to their teaching and are disappointed are the ones that get burned out and leave the profession.
@@jenimolloy I know, but it's the reality of working for someone. We are all replaced eventually. Some sooner than others.
I am a physics teacher. I'm trying to leave teaching and just get an engineering gig.
Update: I quit teaching and am now working on a masters in data science.
Engineer here, but HS physics would be one class that I’ve considered teaching. Why did you leave?
I’m similar to you. High school math teacher. Started an MBA in finance and went into revenue audit.
Good we need 10s of millions to quit their job at Big Businesses and large organizations like Government agencies as these places are extremely abusive of workers.
Like teacher mathematics high school, I want to change my career to machine learning engineer Allah welling
@@saidsaid3048 Machine learning is a good field to get into now. It depends on your age. If you’re over 40, it may be difficult to go that route. You already have most of the skills for a financial services position. I found most of my math based MBA courses to be quite easy.
I was hired as a 6th grade science teacher, spent the summer building my curriculum, then on the first day I found out they switched me to 7th grade science. Then they stated in the newsletter that I was the newest volleyball coach, I had NO experience with volleyball and never even mentioned it to them. They didn’t even tell me, I saw it in the newsletter. I’m not a teacher anymore lol
Wowwww! I'm not surprised. Admin did a lot of my colleagues dirty
What do you do now as career/ job?? And do you like it?
@@stevenhurst7856 I’m a stay at home but I work a few nights as a phlebotomist. I’m working on my medical school application and studying for the MCAT. I fell into teaching after college but the dream was always to be a physician. I’m elated to be pursuing my dreams again!
@Pre-Med Mama I wanted to be a science teacher, and I keep seeing horror stories. Now after reading yours I'm thinking I should get into epidemiology...haha I'm 29 which is old but hey.
@@persephoneblack888 I’m 28, lol and I’ll be 30 or 31 by the time I start medical school, so go for it!
Is it good or bad that teachers all across the US are experiencing this?
I mean, yay, we’re all in this together! But dang, we’re all in this, together.
Not even just the US... here in Canada also (especially Québec where after taxes I made 28 000 CAD for my first year)
Oh I was about to forget. I'm 19. Did one year of college and went right back to high school to teach advanced math bc nobody would take the job.
@@andrewschmidt4806 wow. Qualifications must be wayyyy different in Canada. We require a 4 yr degree and a 2 year credential and tons of tests we have to pass to even step foot into a classroom.
@@DR-eq6qe same here more or less, but when you can't find someone who's qualified you just kinda take what you can get
Not only in US , we're all in the same bout
@@andrewschmidt4806 🥴 That sounds like the 1800s with the one- room schoolhouse!
The ever-growing workload is what finally pushed me out. Districts cut elementary PE teachers, Art teachers, Librarians, and Music teachers and expected regular teachers to just magically have the needed skills to wrap those subjects into their day. As an elementary teacher I was preparing/planning for over 5 different subjects DAILY.
As counter-intuitive as it may seem, I now teach college classes and find them WAAAAAYYYYYY easier! In a day, I might teach the same Introduction to Sociology class 2 or 3 times, but I don't have to spend hours getting material ready like in elementary school.
Uni is 100% child’s play compared to teaching kids.
The only downside is, well, you have know things that are harder.
But the teaching part of the job easier. As is expected. In a university you want the experts. The students are adults and know how to learn for themselves. You need someone to guide their study and that can help them with the technical details when they get stuck. Not someone that is inspiring, motivating, etc. Although of course those are still valuable, if an adult doesn’t want to learn, they don’t have to learn, so it’s not necessary to motivate unmotivated students.
It is necessary that you are an expert.
I'm getting my degree in sociology education and honestly, even though I would love to work with teenagers, I think the best thing to do is to find a way to stay at university as a professor...the difference in both pay and respect is so damn high!
@@ItsJustFashion Never leave that thought. Stay right there and don't look back!
It depends on the state. Some states cut while other states don't cut vital specials.
Also teachers are expected to cater to special needs,ESL students, and gifted students. These mean additional preparations in each subject area!
I have 17 days left teaching. Good riddance. I’ve made it 3 years, and that’s stolen all my remaining faith in humanity.
I left 3 years short of full retirement. The workload and lack of respect were the final straws.
I did 17 years. I really wish I’d had the good sense to leave after three years. Currently working in tech and am absurdly happy.
I'm 3 months into teaching and leaving on Dec 17th, end of semester.
Education is the hot dumpster fire I imagined it being, but I'm too mentally sane to go down swinging.
I know when I'm being gaslighted and manipulated. It's all about the numbers anyways.
Reasons I left / retired early:
1. Knowingly putting rival gang members in my class and then telling me I need to work on my classroom discipline.
2.Parents! Their perfect child cheats on a test and I fail the student. Parents report me to administration. Administration tells me I must retest student after student has had a chance to study.
3. Administration more interested in siding with parents over classroom issue (even though they are well documented and previously reported to administration)
4. Teach to the test. Deny it all you want, that's what public education has become
Exactly
Teach to the test is a huge issue.
I also taught at a gang infested school where one of the teachers who quit after getting beaten up in a stairwell ultimately committed suicide years later after working as a lawyer through the public defenders office. The program I was in was this ridiculous court order reading class which was a misguided attempt to raise kids’ IQ scores even though kids that age typically are done taking IQ tests. If I had to teach that crap again I would actually conspire with the kids to beat the system by simply giving them all the answers to the work book questions in class, and assigning the more reliable kids to catch up those who had missed classes, to keep them caught up as well. Then I would devote the remaining class time to individual sustained reading of paperback novels chosen by the kids themselves. I had started to do something very similar to that prior to quitting over disciplinary issues but I waited far too long before I started subverting the system. In many cases the curriculum is basically shit and you have no choice but to wing it on your own. In the final analysis teaching reminds me of the proverbial “shit sandwich” described in cliched war movies where the company commander calls in an air strike on his own position. In other words I find no rooms for positivity. Positive thinking is bullshit.
@@marcmeinzer8859 Oh, I agree!! Once was required to attend an in-service for all district middle school math teachers. Our "expert" was someone with a PHD in curriculum who proceeded to tell us all how to run our classrooms. I dared ask the question of how many years experience she had in the middle school math classroom. You guessed it, NONE!! But she had a PHD she quickly reminded me. I got up and walked out and went back to my classroom to work. That ended my career.
@@steveparker2938 I turned down an opportunity to teach in the laboratory school for misfits at Cleveland State University which would have entailed a free ride to get my EdD degree to become a professor of education but I refused the job when I was told that there was no provision for suspending kids from class to cool off after disciplinary infractions/outrages. The idiotic professor running the place said that “we’re their last chance so we can’t send them home”. Apparently she never heard of adult education where my GED students routinely got their high school equivalency diploma in as little as six months. These people are simply imbeciles. Another professor of education told me that all disciplinary problems were caused by inferior curriculum promoting bored kids. When asked her if that was the cause of disturbances in study halls, home rooms, in the corridors while changing classes, and at sporting events in the gymnasium or football stadium outside of regular school hours she had no answer for me. Of course she had no answer because she was a fatuous ass who was full of shit! Fuck all of them. I quit to become a deckhand in the merchant marine and then later became a self employed barber for 20 years. Teaching school is for assholes, plain and simple
As a "former student" and parent I agree with the comments on respect, money, and workload. I can also assure you that many teachers are there just to have a place to hang their hats and get a check. Regarding administrators, too many are like Walmart managers. They hide in an office and just shoot crap from the hip. Many changes are needed all around.
I was a teacher for one month...worked 2 weeks and gave 2 weeks notice. The worst job EVER
Thank you teachers. I started college long ago to teach high school biology. After about a week, I figured I'd be fired in short order for losing my s--t with a student and changed my major. I have been teaching college chemistry for 26 years now and love working with students. Administration, not so much. Anyway, those of you who can teach children without losing your s--t have my utmost respect.
I have a Masters degree in teaching and I don’t make enough teaching to qualify for three times the rent for a one bedroom apartment in my city but make slightly too much to qualify for low income housing. A masters degree is a requirement in my state.
Edit:
Im ok financially because I am married. But it shouldn’t have to be that way. Most teachers I know are married and have a second income or have more than one job themselves. Teachers should make enough to live in the communities we teach in. A teacher shouldn’t have to rely on another income to afford the basics. It should pay a enough for a single person to afford the basics. A masters degree is a requirement in my state and I actually don’t have a problem with that if we were paid a professional wage. Teachers should be well educated, but it’s a problem if we don’t get paid enough for it to make financial sense.
See if you can transfer those skills into the corporate world. I am 21 years into my teaching career, worked 2-3 other jobs for about 16 of those years and still have several side hustles to make ends meet. This is the first year that I will not start my September in huge amounts of debt from no pay during the summer.
Ditto! Same here!
Same... and I’m a single parent with two kids
I make $50k and pay about $750 after living in my place about 5 1/2 years. Cost of living is the only amazing part of the Midwest.
Become a HR recruiter
As a senior in high school, happy teacher appreciation week teachers!!! Some students may not realize it, but what you do for us is immeasurable! Thank you!
Aww! Thank you! 🙏🏼
You're the reason teachers teach.
Thank you for your beautiful comment 🥹💙💙 this means a lot 💙
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!
The problem with the American Education System both public and private is that everyone says they want discipline in the classroom, but as soon as a teacher tries to bring discipline to a classroom that teacher is thrown to the wolves. After 26 years in the profession and having taught through COVID and all of its idiocy and stupidity of closing the schools and the other horsecrap that has come down the pike, I'm calling it quits. I am going to use my skills to start an online Christian university and help people who really want an education to get it. I may do some substitute teaching in the good districts near me, but I'm done with full-time teaching without being able to call the shots as to what I have to put up with.
I don't think districts even mind. They just get even cheaper staff that is even more desperate for a job. It's insanity
My district hired a bunch of teachers who aren't even certified to teach 🙄
Exact same thing is happening in nursing. God help you if you need hospitalization because the experienced are all leaving as fast as they can.
They are importing teachers from 3rd world countries cause min wage to them is better than the shitholes they come from.
Now not only do they not care if your gone, its cheaper for them too.
@@friend757 yes, I had a bad feeling this was happening in healthcare too. And I think some other professions as well. The only way the general population it's going to stand up and do something about this and insist on fair treatment for the people who actually do the work is if the people who actually do the work stop doing the work. My way of doing this is to become a private tutor. Although I also have some tax preparation experience as well, 10 years outdated but I still have people trying to hire me.
Agree with you! Tried to explain the value of education to my hair stylist who is convinced that only ppl with children should pay school taxes!! My goodness.
As a senior this year, I've finally realized why education is so important. I'm infuriated at the pressure put onto teachers, and the lack of respect from students, adminstration, and parents to them as a whole. It feels like teachers are working 6 different jobs, and even more since covid rolled around! I hate the American Public School system due to MANY flaws, but one step in the right direction would definitely be SUPPORTING teachers, the backbone of our society, instead of not paying them enough, overworking them, and treating them like crap! Also taco bell should bring back their churros too.
Can you be my student please?
Thanks you are awesome, although you may be too young to remember how 🔥 the volcano menu at Taco Bell was. Bring back the volcano burrito!
🥰
They'd probably be happier working at Taco Bell at this point and they should get all the free churros they want!
I had a similar relavation when I transferred to an alternative school. It was nothing perfect, but omg it was a massive step for evernyone involved. I cannot say the teachers were paid more, but they were supported by all the other staff and the higher ups of the disitrict. It goes to show that when everyone works together, things do get better. Better for students, teachers, and school staff.
We got a breakfast break, longer lunch break, both students and teachers. Class sizes topped out at 15, every teacher had a permanent classroom for the day, so no jumping around and moving all their stuff. I dont quite know the language to describe it, but the cirriculum/lesson plan guidelines for teachers was more of a list of goals, rather than being written out by the week or day. The school had no more than 100 students, all the staff not just teachers knew all the students’ names and would make conversation with us. There were no dumb hall passes/signing in and out to use the restroom stuff. There were multiple mental health specialists on staff and various support/therapy groups open to all students, and after school hours staff were given similar options. I was a straight A student when I was there, and I learned how to BE a student and enjoy learning. Without that alternative school, I am not sure I would be in college. Tldr A better k-12 school system IS possible!
This past school year was my first year as a teacher and I already need a break. I can’t begin to explain what I’ve been through; I feel isolated, my mental health is destroyed, and at the end of the day it was my students who suffered the most due to the relentless changes in protocol, mandatory testing, and lack of admin support. I know I entered this profession during a chaotic year and everyone was feeling stressed and overwhelmed. But this isn’t what college prepared me for, and this isn’t what I signed up for. I didn’t have an assistant the entire year, I handled everything on my own. Thank god I had a mentor and a wonderful team to get me through it all. I won’t be going back to public schools for a while. God bless anyone who continues after this horrendous year.
Let me tell you Melanie, as someone who's done this for twenty years now, the first year is extreme no matter what. Yes, things are worse the last couple years with the added stressors, but when I began I was told over and over that my second year would be better. My first year, starting around mid September through end of April, if I got to bed one night a week, including weekends, before one I was doing good. I thought sure, and told family repeatedly, that I was in no possible way cut out for this job, that I simply couldn't do it. That was nineteen years ago. I was beyond amazed at how much easier the second year was, literally less than half as much work. That being said, I work in a small rural district where a large class is twenty students, so my experience does not necessarily translate everywhere.
I was a teacher for 23years, now retired. Not in America but the same is happening in Australia. Just when you have everything in control some bright spark tells you to change everything, new curriculum! You have PD given by someone who had never been in a classroom telling you about "new approaches ". They never take up my offer to teach my classes for a month to show me how it is done. Exams used to be set and marked by someone else......now we do it in our spare time, usually until midnight! Etc , etc, etc!
Most of the stuff that changes in schools is for someone's CV who then promptly gets a promotion whilst we all wait for the next dude to come along and change it all again. I don't even bother to learn our new deputies/principal's names because they leave so quickly.
How about Individual learning plans? I stopped teaching just before Covid. Covid has shown that maybe schools are not really that essential.
@@Warpedsmac they are a essential babysitting service.
They make decisions at the top without consulting the teachers and we often first find out of things relating to our jobs through the meda (eg smh) which irks me much.
I tried to talk a young girl out of becoming a teacher a few years ago, she seemed so fresh and sweet and eager to help enlighten other children, I couldn't bare not to warn her....
All very true, but I think you left off the biggest reason: students with behavioral and learning differences throwing screaming tantrums in the classroom on a regular basis. These poor kiddos need way more help than what we're giving them, no one else can learn in the class, and the teacher can't sleep!
Totally agree. I've dealt with students staging tantrums. The whole class suffers and nothing gets taught. BUT.....the administration EXPECTS that kids do well on the state tests. I want the administration/parents to teach for a week and THEN tell me what they think. 🙄
Yes, a glaring omission. I agree.
Absolutely.
Thanks for the video. No lies told
Got an email last week that cameras are being installed in every classroom. Matter of fact, with zero explanation as to why or what data supports that being a good thing (especially for our school that has extremely healthy school culture and minimal to no bullying)...no teachers were consulted. "Post-panopticon" was a term i found when the terrible feeling in my stomach led me to research. And my heart hurts because I love teaching, but I think it's time to leave...how do they have money for this and not for art supplies?
Exactly what the hell is going on
You noted several valid points. I have state certification to teach on the secondary level. Gave it a try, but the lack of respect from administration and parents who failed in support and cooperation, helped me decide teaching would not be my career. No private school or school district has enough salary/benefits budget to attract me back. When I was in school, even HS, we guys didn't always behave, but probably expected with teens, but we still respected our teachers and had respect for that wood paddle he had and used on the seat of our trousers when we got out of line. We shot rubber bands and spit wads, but no one brought a gun or weapon to school to harm teachers or classmates.
I was going to be a teacher, but I changed majors because of this.
Good job!
Why were you going to be a teacher? If it was for the vacations and the holidays, then I understand. It’s a hard job. But if you wanted to teach because you like kids and you like your subject matter, then don’t quit because of this. I have been teaching for 26 years. It is different now for sure, but it still boils down to you, in a room with kids, learning and exploring. Maybe I am in a better spot (and I have a great admin team), but I just ignore all the BS and focus on that. This has been the best year of my career - especially the last 10 weeks of in person teaching.
Good for you!
@@michaelrockow5461 I am about to enter my 29th year of teaching, which means I have worked with well over a thousand teachers. I have never met one teacher who said they entered the profession for "the vacations and the holidays". Not one.
@@jayseaborg3895 I haven’t taught with any either. But I have known a few FORMER teachers who did. For some reason, those folks don’t stay. Enjoy year #29.
My friend and former coworker, Mr. Huggins, is a teachie at a public school. Every time I clean his classroom, I was a classroom cleaner, he always greeting me with a smile. : - )
Honestly, I have been a teacher for 20+ years. The most difficult thing about teaching is the lack of support and respect. I can deal with much of the other responsibilities and duties but having my experience second-guessed by others is too much to handle. As a teacher, I can't do it all without the support of parents and administration.
Yeah, support is so important. I work at a residential treatment facility (like a boarding school for teens from troubled backgrounds), and I love how much support there is! We have at least 2 staff in the classroom, usually 3, & often more (including support paras to help maintain discipline and provide academic help). Not only is our minimum staff-student ratio 1:6, but the staff support & encourage one other & step in for/back each other as needed. Administration encourages and enacts change when needed, and parents are generally 100% on board and able to see the observations staff enter about their child throughout the day.
We even have 2 additional rooms students can go to-academic support classroom for students who need extra one on one help or a change of learning environment; and a detention classroom where they can go if they’re misbehaving or would like a quiet place to process through whatever they need (like difficult emotions surfacing after therapy, etc.). It’s not perfect, but it is a really good set up.
Thank you so much for working in the education industry for so many years, your time is invaluable, and you deserve so much more than what the system has given you!
ditto, past year was hell because no support, the opposite of support
Nobody seem to understand you can just wave a wand and make children behave.
Watching this video because I'm so fed up with dealing with disrespectful students during the day and then getting disrespectful emails from the parents when I get home.
If your child is asking to go to the bathroom every single time I ask the class to take out their workbooks, and you're backing him up and telling him he doesn't need to do his homework because he's so upset about having to go to the assistant principal's office for talking back to his teachers, then don't blame me that your second grade student is writing words backwards.
25+ years in the profession. My biggest nightmares (placed most horrible first): 1. parents. 2. administrators. 3. the district. 4. kids who are mean to other kids. 5. teachers who are mean to other teachers. 6. kids who are mean to me. 7. my declining health. (Nowhere do you see the children - only the psycho ones).
I quit this year after 20 years. Everything he said was right on. I have poured my heart and soul into this work and I find it's become a thankless job. Entitled kids, unsupportive parents and admin, testing, testing and more testing...
Testing makes teaching suck, royally!! Teaching isn't fun!!! It's a numbers game and everyone is losing. Teachers aren't teaching from their heart by developing curriculum that aligns with the course of study, but yet allows the teacher to show their own level of creativity. Teachers are being asked to do everything the same as the next teacher and every district is being asked do everything the same as the next district. This profession was never meant to be this way! The pendulum used to take a great deal of years to swing back and forth, but now every year teachers are being asked to learn a new program. Programs don't teach kids, TEACHERS do!!!
So far, I have had to test multiple times for progress reports, full report cards, DRA reading tests, online math tests and our district is saying we'll now be doing Edmentum tests, which are very difficult and beyond my students' abilities.
Why is it above my students' abilities?
Because I teach Kindergarten.
That's right...all that testing and more on the horizon and I teach Kindergarten.
What do you do now as career/ job?? And do you like it?
My wife is retiring from teaching in two years at 54. She has had enough. She doesn't care about the pay. If they paid her a million dollars a year, she still couldn't keep up with the workload. She has the type of personality where she feels like she HAS to do a good job on all tasks assigned to her. In other words, she really tries to be a good teacher. This is why she is retiring. She can't keep up. Other people we know with similar personalities are also quitting. Teachers who don't care about their job and just do the bare minimum are staying.
Oh, and she got punched by a student last year and the administration at her school didn't give a rat's ass.
Once a student hits me, and the admin doesn't do anything is the day I resign. Respect should ALWAYS go over money!
That's why savings is everything!
So sick of "Professional Development" rhetoric, as if some new strategy is the magic bullet that's going to change everything! "RIGOR! Close Reading! Social Emotional Learning! Crafting Learning Intentions and Success Criteria! Growth Mindset!" Just stop already.
You got "Yoga Poses?" That was two years ago for us. This year it's "Breathing and Mindfulness." Ridiculous.
If I could give you a million thumbs-up I would! If I hear another administrator say "data-driven" I think I might jump through a window!
Lack of respect. Had a parent-teacher conference led by my boss. Was actively prevented from participating.
Just pretend that your internet went out and you can't get back into Zoom. It's better than saying the wrong thing and having to live it down and transfer. TMI
🤪🤯😠
Every teacher needs a full time assistant, at this point.
Amen! You can say that again! I keep saying I need an assistant to help with the grading, doing those neverending surveys or online trainings certificates that we have to do every school year, and sending emails to parents. I'm about to complete my second year and I just couldn't believe the workload coming in and I guess I was expected to know exactly what all my duties and responsibilities were and execute them all with master precision while creating the most rigorous lesson plans. I have fumbled so many times.
That’s a good idea actually, it could provide more jobs too
I think most would jump from the rooftops if they had one even part time. 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
Just one assistant??
Now, THAT’s an amazing idea!!!
Happy teacher appreciation week. Throughout the last year, I’ve gained such a huge respect for all you’ve been able to do. Though you’ve never taught me, your videos have been educational in the failures of our (American) education system as well as the work that goes on behind the desk to make up for it. Your honesty and transparency on the damage administration’s and parents are doing is eye opening to a student who has only seen a fraction of the downfall in our student.
Oh, I forgot about teacher appreciation week. Each year we would get an old bruised apple in our mailboxes. Except I remember one year that we got a gold colored paper clip with an apple on top, and that was it. I felt so appreciated.
When I left teaching after 13 years it was like divorcing my abusive ex husband. I didn't know how unhappy I was until I was on the outside looking in.
I was a special education teacher. I gave up teaching to become a special needs nanny/ educator. Best decision I ever made. Pay is better, parents are way more grateful. I can work more closely with the children, and teach to their abilities . WIN WIN
Last straw was when my admin (who said I was probationary even though I was twice tenured) told me I was stuck with her because I had nowhere else to go. I pulled out my phone on the spot, called my boss at my part time gig and got 25hrs/wk immediately and a promise of 15 more within a day or two. Oh, and my admin pulled this in front of a hundred students and the call was on speaker phone.
WT.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Omg! You go!
You are my HERO!!! Yes!!!!! 🙌🙌🙌
Nine years in the classroom, and I am out after graduation day 2021. I wanted to see this last batch of seniors graduate; and when they walk out the arena, I'll be right behind them.
My mom's a public school teacher. Says she wastes easily 1/3rd of her time on administrative tasks that are either unnecessary or which could be carried out by someone else.
I have been teaching for 26 years...I have learned to spot those time wasters and I have trained myself to say “no” a lot more than I used to. If it doesn’t directly help my kids, screw it - knock it out in 5 minutes. Move on to something that matters.
Yep, they won't even let our TA's make copies. But our TAs are allowed to collate and staple and make those stacks of copies into packets of worksheets. And then they take our TA's away.
Well constructed response.
YESSS - say it louder for the people in the back
When I was thinking of becoming a teacher, I interned in a kindergarten classroom with 50+ kids... they had 1 teacher, who had an assistant. Those 6-year-olds had a 1-hour long standardized test they each had to take online, and they only had 1 computer. I remember watching the assistant try to reassure a kid who was crying while taking the online exam, meanwhile the teacher was doing mandatory individual assessments on the rest of the kids' sight-words. They only had 10 minutes a day for recess, and if they misbehaved, it was taken from them. I decided it was abuse and chose a different career instead.
You made a wise decision. Before at least you could fall back on teaching overseas. With Covid, that is becoming more and more difficult.
If anyone is reading this and thinking about teaching my advice is that you find pockets of it satisfying but it will zap the life out of you. I can't imagine why anyone would do it.
Need to add in the attempt in Many states to break the teachers unions or to prevent teachers from forming them as if they were Amazon or Walmart Employees.... No one wants to spend years and years going to college and paying student loan debts for 1-2 decades just to work a job that's treated as badly as warehouse workers and in some cases compensated at about the same level.
You are absolutely right about that
I love teaching! I taught for 27 years and loved it, but I agree with everything you said here. One more major problem is out-of control behavior from children and the unwillingness of public schools to acknowledge the problem and hold children and parents accountable. Violent, aggressive, and destructive children were a rarity when I began teaching, but now they are in every classroom in the school district I was in. It’s now seen as normal to have to troop the whole class into the hall once or twice a day while a child goes on a destructive rampage turning over desks and tables in the classroom. And there are NO CONSEQUENCES. We just put the kid on a behavior plan and reward him every three minutes that he doesn’t go crazy. I was in a kindergarten classroom with a child whom we all loved to bits, but he had significant behavior problems, and part of his behavior plan was for the staff to ignore him while he yelled repeatedly, “F*** you, b****!” That was the plan. Really. In kindergarten. In my school district, teachers expect to be cussed at and physically attacked. I’ve been punched, kicked, bitten, had chairs thrown at me, and had a trash can slammed over my head (to be fair, I let my guard down on that one). I’m no shrinking violet, and I was considered good at managing behavior. All this, while teaching Pre-K through second grade! We’ve had teachers and administrators sent to the hospital with injuries from students. I love teaching and I love the kids, but this is not what I signed up for. I left two years ago and I’m happier than ever!
@Trio Livingston Of course the teacher should not have to deal with violent or verbally abusive students....but more important, OTHER STUDENTS should not have to! As a grandmother, I worry for the day my grands are in school.
And many people wouldn't even believe this, would they? Sadly, it is the REALITY of schools today. I retired midyear; although a loved one with health issues was part of the reason, so were situations as you so clearly describe here, and I have had enough.
People like to say to those working with animals that animals are unpredictable, but I think they are way more predictable than human beings. Just look at what retail workers and other service workers have to deal with too. I think I'd much rather work with animals than do a job like that.
This is bananas! Yikes! I’m a homeschooling parent and I’ve seen this “positive parenting solutions” trend where there are no consequences given.
I'm a paraprofessional, and feel the no consequences thing in my bones. 😐
Keep Politicians and Parents out of the Class, Pay $30 per hour Worked including Work done out of hours, Limit Class sizes to a Maximum of 12. Introduce these three things and there would not be a Shortage.
Worked at a residential for 7 years with kids who are violent or act out. Been at a school for 1 and I'm ready to work at an Amazon Warehouse just to get away from people.
Me too
I remember once, I was teaching 4th grade. A 5th grade girl came in the classroom to announce an event. Within her earshot, a few boys commented that the girl was not attractive. I came down hard on the offenders in front of the whole class.
Usually if a few students did something wrong, I would speak to them at recess. But this time I wanted the whole class to know that everyone who enters the classroom deserves respect.
In addition to more teacher pay, I’d like to see teacher unions adjust contracts so that teachers are free to quit one school district, then go work in another. In California, the salary scale makes it expensive for districts to hire experienced teachers with a masters degree. If districts have to compete for teachers, maybe they will support them more.
You're forgetting toxic bullying teachers who get backed up by their high- school- like posse that invariably includes at least one admin so that the are unassailable
Oh and they are usually power hungry young teachers trying to get into admin who think their couple grad school classes makes them superior to 20 year veterans.
@@kathleenkirchoff9223 I've been to 13 schools, trust me it's not just young blood teachers, there are some old bastards who are sick of everything, don't care about the job or the students, and you can tell the spam died in them a long time ago, and they just take their frustration out on giving themselves a power trip by micromanaging what students do. "I don't know, can you use the restroom?" Having young blood that's on the power trip early on is horrible, especially if it doesn't go away with age
Oo, this is why I left my school in Kuwait. Our teachers were almost all American.
(To clarify: I am American too! I just mean, I had the unfortunate pleasure of seeing this happen abroad, too, although everywhere’s else I’ve taught abroad was better, and we at least had great pay/benefits/awesome housing.)
@@chadbest5411 Yes! "Mean Girls" all grown up!!
All true!
How many people here get the classic "But you get summers off and you only work from 8 to 3. Stop complaining you spoiled, lazy, etc."?
I do
The down votes are probably school management members.
I quit teaching college after 20 years this semester. We are treated like shit and responsible for everything. I had the best students in the world and the most petty bureaucrats policing me. I’m done with the ignorant deciding my worth.
You are so right.
I am a mother of 5 kids and I am currently a stay at home mom. I was talking to a group of peers about what to do when my last child is in school... Many suggested teaching because "you're off when the kids are off"... Eh, my kid teachers has been sending me emails at 10pm. That doesn't sound like "off".
I completely and utterly support all of my children's teachers, and I'm grateful for their gifts and talents.
With that said, I don't blame teachers for quitting because as I stay at home mother and someone who's highly active in my children's School, I see what happens on the other side when parents just don't care... Teachers don't deserve the disrespect and if they quit because of it, good for them because hopefully it will force the rest of society to wake up.
We will lose the best and the brightest of our educators if we don't do something immediately to protect them and show them the respect they deserve.
2:00-2-25 I felt that so much I almost cried 😭
So painfully accurate. I only lasted 4 years in the classroom. I loved working with the students, but ultimately I left in 2018, and I still feel relief when I think about it.
I am a substitute teacher. Understand all comments !! Tough Duty
I graduated with my bachelor's degree in 2012, and I remember multiple teachers telling me not to go into the field for a lot of these reasons. I ended up switching fields, partially because of that. I babysit on the side now which pays decently and is a LOT easier while still giving me the opportunity to work with kids.
The ‘out-of-control’ children seem to have more rights than the majority. Personal experience, there are probably less than 10% of students in a given class who are seriously disruptive. Then, there are the ‘fence-sitters’ who wait to see what the consequences are. When there are none, you end up with a larger group of inattentive and disruptive students. I truly feel that the classroom is a sacred space of learning, and any traumatized, emotional disordered children should have a social worker led space on campus to stay while the rest of the student body gets their academic skills. When the disorderly students are ready to behave, they can be welcomed back.
I am a teacher and I approve this message. Wholeheartedly agree!
Let's not forget the mainstreaming of students with I.E.P. and 504 plans was a HUGE mistake. It provides a huge distraction for teachers who suddenly and constantly need to adjust their lesson plans to accommodate these students. It's not fair to the students. It's not fair to the teachers. I am always surprised that the various teacher's unions allowed that to happen.
I'm going through my teacher practice atm and one of my professors literally told us recently how we should think long and hard before even applying to schools because teachers have no time for personal life and because the autonomy is very confusing - on one side "the class is our kingdom", but on the other side we have to oblige to both parents and the goverment, while also having in mind the actual needs of the children and our own capabilities....Teachers are so underpaid, it hurts.
Your class is NOT your kingdom.
The major thing that bothers me about USA education is the UNEQUAL DISTRIBUTION FUNDS distributed throughout districts that include marginalized communities of color when compared to white communities.
The lack of concern of our well deserving color students education and quality of RIGHTFULLY DESERVED learning institutions go deliberately ignored, and who are forced to cope time after time, day after day sitting in cold, dilapidated buildings, and studying from out of current published books, it all leads to a fractured society, and unending frustrations by everyone.
And, I am not a teacher, or any longer a parent of school age kids...
Set caps on classroom sizes for each grade. But the mistake here is assuming the govt is trying to do what is good for the citizens not serving their corporate sponsors.
I’m from Canada and when we get a professional development speaker from America we feel cheated, USA is just behind Uganda on valid international ratings. Please Rebuild your formerly world class system.
After being a teacher for 4 years I quit the job about 7 years ago - the only regret goes towards missing the actual teaching and some few colleagues - but since teaching has become low priority at this point, it was a no brainer to flee the scene. Its about bureaucracy, stupid standarized tests and having a place to stach children in ... but nobody seems to care. aweful system.
The testing thing. OMG. We lost 20 instructional days this year to various kinds of tests - leveling tests, progress monitoring tests, district mandated curricula tests (on - get this - MATERIAL WE HADN'T BEEN ABLE COVER TO YET), benchmark tests, and, finally of course the big daddy of them all, the STAAR tests! Yipee!
We utilize a charter type school for homeschool in Alaska. We have an advising teacher that used to work in the classroom. Our school “does” offer a lot of one time, short term, and even continuing classes, lectures, activities, etc. the way we see the triad of adults (teachers, admins, and parents) interact is soooo different from how we see it in even our local traditional school (same district) and how we saw it before we moved here.
I have long said that teachers aren’t allowed to do their job. They are micromanaged. My own teachers, especially in the upper levels, as a kid picked their curriculum, or a committee from their department/grade did. They could easily discipline kids, point out a kid was struggling, etc. they could tailor things to what worked for their classroom.
Now, you see the opposite.
I don’t blame teachers for leaving. I won’t be shocked if, on the National level, our public school system as we know it self combusts. Parents, teachers, and students are leaving the system in mass. And many are finding ways to pursue education that better suits everyone’s needs… charter homeschool programs, co ops, learning pods, private and group tutors, etc. I can only hope, as a parent, that the good teachers that we are “losing” find a way back to educating our youth in a way that’s healthy for them, even if that means not in public education.
I graduated in 2007. I now have a teen in school. This year they had the kids take these "MAP" tests 3 times just to track if the kids were learning on pace or something....3 TIMES. Plus the yearly standardized tests. That just seems insane. However, it does mean that she does not get test anxiety because she doesn't pressure herself on any of them.
Speak! You speak the truth!
I am so fortunate that I still want to do this after 17 years, but I swear that I'm at the point where the people evaluating me have less knowledge and experience than I do. Of course, they don't know what they don't know. Oh, and then I hear that experience doesn't make a difference. Who says that? People without experience.
This! I've been saying this for YEARS! Just turned in my resignation letter a month ago...
YES! Museum educators get this too! We also lack administrative support for what we do and we are only considered part time workers in many museums. Sad, but true.
I wanted to work in museums but like you said, nothing full time is available. I got my teaching credential instead, miserable but surviving. 🤷♀️
Not a teacher but a school psych. And I also feel under appreciated. I went to grad school for three years to learn the tools needed for behavior interventions, teacher consultation and of course testing. But I am only used for testing, and not only that, parents tell me what tests to give their children. They will email me to tell me what to give. Bruh. I went to school to learn what I should be giving and not giving based on suspected disability. I feel so disrespected all the time when all I want is to help kids who have challenges with learning have the tools to help them succeed. I also come across a lot of teacher blame for student behavior challenges. Like no the teacher is doing their best with their 30+ kids in their class after a crazy year of virtual learning. Good luck to us all this year.
Teachers need more planning/prep time during their contracted hours. Districts expect us to do all of it in the evenings and on the weekends. We actually need less face to face time so we can include adequate planning/prep time during our work hours.
Schools are an atrocity now, and I couldn’t have said it better myself. A lot has changed but unfortunately it’s really not going to get any better; I feel many large school districts are sampling virtual academies and will most likely end up being virtual in decades to come; NC lifted the charter school cap from one per district and I’ve seen a boom in the number of charter and home schools opening in this state. Not to mention, after receiving my masters I was told they wouldn’t pay me based on my degree because the state said there’s no difference in student performance based on the teachers education 🙄🤦🏾♂️ like my man said, I’m seriously thinking of an exit strategy.
When people say "What, don't you make enough money?" Average teacher salaries are (insert number here)
I would really love to tell them that what we have now isn't the point, because it's not.
I mean I would love to not have to work my summer gig and just lay around and whatnot, but it's still not the point.
Pound for pound, dollar for dollar compared to the average workload of our contemporaries with similar education we are VASTLY lagging behind.
My father in law went to a two year school to learn how to repair telecommunications switches. I will never ever come close to what he makes doing that. But it's not about that. It's that after 40 years of doing what he does, despite changing technology, his job has largely stayed the same. Meanwhile ask a teacher what the job looked like 40 years ago compared to now and they'd say very little of it looks remotely the same.
If you're going to change the playing field on us, then you gotta raise the salary cap too.
My teaching practice mentor literally told me yesterday something along those lines...how schools have the highest educated workforce because (at least in my country) you have to have at least a masters degree, if not even a phd..and yet we are the least paid workforce when you compare the work hours (and overtime for preparation and evaluation) and pressure to do it right...we can't just clock off of work and forget about our responsibilities until the next day, we constantly have to upgrade our knowledge and techniques...don't even get me started on emotional stability of the professors!
Don't forget we are way over qualified for the said pay. I almost accidentally typed sad pay instead of said. Should I have kept it?
@@Tony29103 Sad pay would've definitely worked for the statement you were making. It's true.
@@Tony29103 yes
Parents truly believe that raising their children is a teacher's job. Handing a toddler a smartphone along with a pile of chicken nuggets and fries is not a proper upbringing. Some people need to wake all the way up. Now.
Thank you for saying what we all are thinking!!
2:08 I see you👁🗨 lol that subconscious signal... (Your ending statement was related to a taco.. were you ever a fan of the smothered burrito, it was like Taco Bells McRib.)
Its all about culture, nothing else - well large class sizes too. But ye, when parents don't care, most kids won't care, and there is no culture of respect for education in the cities of the USA
Not to mention that states that are shutting schools down because it's cheaper to bus them onto a consolidated school than to keep smaller schools open. Yet, they don't increase the budget for the consolidated schools, and just overcrowd the classes.
The day my son graduated from university he was making more money than I was-after 20 years in the field.
My dad barely graduated from high school and got his electrical contractors license. He also makes more in a year than teachers in my district who have been teaching for 20 years and have a Ph.D.
I agree.
I subbed more or less full time for ten years. The pay was shit. It was super stressful. I loved it. I got to connect with the kids, watch them grow from grades five through twelve. They were always happy to see me. I felt like I was making a difference, mostly just by listening to them. This spring I gave up. The behavior problems are out of control post COVID. All the kids who really needed to be in the classroom most were the ones who did virtual learning. Now that they're back, it's pandemonium. Our school board has also decided that we can't have detentions and whatnot, and instead we have to build relationships. Great in theory, but not all kids are that mature. Some kids really need concrete consequences. I refuse to spend all of my time dealing with behavioral issues from kids who don't want to be there, instead of helping the ones who do. And I'm not talking about group home/foster kids/DCF cases, who can be a challenge because they've been shafted by life. I love those kids. I get along great with them. I'm talking about kids who are mad that they can't just play video games all day while "distance learning." I talked to admin multiple, multiple times about strategies for correcting behavior, and every time they said "They'd deal with it," and came up with a great multi step plan. They have yet to follow through with any of those plans. I'm not going to spend my days yelling at kids who just want to derail the class because they don't want to be there, only for them to go outside and shoot hoops and process. (Spoiler alert: Those kids just wanted to go shoot fucking hoops all along.)
I took a job that pays me quadruple what I was making. I wouldn't have even really considered it before because I loved working with the kids so much, but enough is enough.
This world is collapsing. Teachers, police officers, religious, nurses, government officials and all our esteemed heroes of days gone by are leaving in droves. Where did we go wrong as a society?
I agree that conditions are horrible for many jobs, but being a woman can't be compared to jobs or someone's religion.
If you really did mean "women" as in "traditional housewives", I'd strongly disagree. I don't want to assume things, but this sounds a bit discriminatory
I was at a ceramics conference two years ago and some Florida teacher had to teach ceramics to 70+ kids in each period. I cannot even imagine ! These folks were amazing and their pay was demoralizing, but if they didn’t agree to 70+ then no kids would get any enrichment classes. More and more universities in your country are staffed by folks educated elsewhere because you are producing debtors not professors.
Principals should have 15-20 years of teaching, principals should have 10 years before applying for Superintendent. While in Denver, retirement was based on the last three years of "teaching" several of my coworkers would become principals to increase their retirement package.
All principals should be required to spend 2-3 per day in the classroom.
All superintendents should be required to teach one day per week.
Many want more pay and less student contact.
Covid has given teachers time to reconsider, do they want to stay in the school caste system where they feel trapped by the system, or go and get a job where you are treated like a human being.
🌎 I hear you! And this is mostly everywhere. Here in Mexico 🇲🇽, our beloved and really needed two-month holidays were cut down to less than a month which makes me weep because State? teachers have to work 2 shifts for a decent salary, 40-60 students per class and private teachers a lot of unpaid overtime to be a team player, you know 🥴
I left teaching in 2012. Best decision ever! I love my current profession and have no work to take home
What do you do now?
Exactly
Oh my gosh I can’t... 🤣 “what’s this yoga pose called?”. You are exactly on spot.. teaching kindergarteners in person and remotely wearing a mask then I have to go to after school pd on mindfulness training where I get to scribble my stress away. Uh. Nope. How about a bonus?! Or allow teachers to be involved in any of these decisions that directly impact us?!
I'm a SpEd teacher, so as much as I appreciate the intent behind it, there's sometimes sort of a guilt trip from people who say, "Of course you have every right to leave, but the students need good teachers like you!!...What's going to happen to them if all the good teachers keep leaving?!!"....😒
Yes to everything you said here. I left in 2017 after a 30 year career (no, I'm not retired!) and have not looked back.
The root of all this is corporate greed. To operate schools, you need money, but rich rich people and big corporations don’t seem to pay taxes anymore, so there are no funds.
Charter schools are allowed to take money that would go to public schools.
There is also testing. The publishing companies that provide state exams make a boatload of money from testing, and because of this they send a lot of funds to the politicians who in turn force schools to take these tests. In my school district I would say 25% of the time the kids are taking one test or another. That’s a lot of instruction time taken away from the kids. And there are all the programs that the school systems buy to prepare for the tests. It’s absolute madness, but hey, the big publishers are making their profits.
I’m a teacher who quit to homeschool my children. Best decision I ever made.
As someone that worked in the public school system, my advice to parents...Get your children out of the public school system
Sadly you were probably one of the great teachers your school lost.
Seriously considering this!
@@sheriharris7635 As someone that repeated two grades, if you screw up...in the long run it is no big deal
🙌🏻 took ours kids out during the pandemic and best decision we made!!! I am a full time SAHM who homeschools and we love it.
1:54 "Then there's the parents". Oh I want to hear this one. Let's hear it.
I started college in 2003 with the idea of becoming an English teacher. I always thought reading and stories, fiction and non-fiction, was a great way for people to walk a mile in someones else's shoes with no real consequences. It is like getting to live a thousand lives and see the positive and negative outsomes of a thousand life decisions before you have to make one yourself in your own life. About my junior year in college I had an opportunity to take part in an afterschool program for the local highschool. It was a Japanese anime club where the films were viewed and then discussed. We had a lineup of seriouse filmes like Grave of the Fireflies and fun series like Naruto (new in the US at the time). The highschool kids were horrible. The public school was just forcing a bunch of the trouble kids to go to the club to keep them contained afterschool and they cursed us out, made fun of us, and bullied the few nerdy highschool kids that were there for their real love of anime and other nerdy stuff. The worst part was the way the college foriegn excange students form China and Japan, who just wanted to share their culture, were treated with mockery and disrespect. They were so upset at the kids' behavior that they stopped coming to the club after one session. Right then and there I dropped any dream of becoming a teacher and went into nonprofit work instead..... non-profit didn't last long either... I'm now an accountant. Long story short, respect and discipline are rare virtues in public schools today. I wish teachers all the best because I know how hard it can be.
PREACH!!!!!!