Some reasons why teachers quit

[Chernosoth]

She's in Kansas. This sounds like what teachers anywhere experience. She was able to quit because she had a part time side gig ready to become a career.

 

[Bray123]

And this is unusual because many teachers quit because they are fed up with unqualified people looking over their shoulder and deciding how lessons should be taught?

 

[adrina]

Underpaid.
Overworked.
Under-supplied.
Over-expensed.
Under-supported
Over-harassed.

Children behaving as if they have been raised in a barn and treating adults as their peers.

They get accused of "grooming" for having rainbow decorations, told they need to carry guns in order to protect themselves and get in trouble for not keeping up with the latest book bans. They are told it is their responsibility to make up for all the lack of proper parenting but not given any tools to do so - and in fact have countless obstacles thrown in their way.

Why are teaches quitting? Because they can't win for losing.

 

[ll74]

Lack of resources is a major issue. Mostly because there is always a new need for a new student. Teachers are given a set toolbox but their students need something different.... Happens all the time. Teaching is difficult. Learning is difficult. Doing both for 30-50 students is difficult.

 

[Sct73]

Underpaid.
Overworked.
Under-supplied.
Over-expensed.
Under-supported
Over-harassed.

Children behaving as if they have been raised in a barn and treating adults as their peers.

They get accused of "grooming" for having rainbow decorations, told they need to carry guns in order to protect themselves and get in trouble for not keeping up with the latest book bans. They are told it is their responsibility to make up for all the lack of proper parenting but not given any tools to do so - and in fact have countless obstacles thrown in their way.

Why are teaches quitting? Because they can't win for losing.

Well said

 

[Chernosoth]

Underpaid.

Teaching is the low end of middle class. It's an ambition for people who want to move up from poverty and a fallback for middle class people who don't want to fall down to poverty. That is probably what will remain until we spend less on administration. Administrators, office drones, and all the non-educators in education will fight tenaciously for their jobs, so teachers finally getting more percentage of the education budget will be after some heavy turbulence and maybe the end of the current public school system.

 

[Fuzzy1975]

Teaching is the low end of middle class. It's an ambition for people who want to move up from poverty and a fallback for middle class people who don't want to fall down to poverty. That is probably what will remain until we spend less on administration. Administrators, office drones, and all the non-educators in education will fight tenaciously for their jobs, so teachers finally getting more percentage of the education budget will be after some heavy turbulence and maybe the end of the current public school system.

Or maybe you could just raise taxes, and give teachers the tools and salaries they are entitled to, since the administration is just as important as the teacher.

 

[PaxNurgle]

In North Idaho (Naturally! Where else?) The teacher who was voted as Idaho's "Teacher of the Year" Karen Laurizten, and was loved universally by all her students, was forced out- reason being, she expressed tolerance and acceptance towards GLBT people and was rumored to have attended a Pride Festival.

Teacher of the Year!!

This, in a nutshell, is why nobody wants to be a teacher anymore. Maybe, ironically, if she had been an ex-Klanswoman who used gay slurs in the class and told people they are supposed to beat up and harass GLBT people, she would still have her job.

It's fucking disgusting, but hey, that's north Idaho for you. Lauritzen eventually landed a job in Illinois where people are a little more decent to each other.

 

[Bn2f]

I am not a conspiracy theorist and I admit that I have absolutely no proof of this, but whenever I see attacks on teachers or public schools and their funding and salaries, or see calls for teachers to be responsible for things beyond their control - that it is really all a coordinated effort at ending public education in favor of some form of privatization.

 

[BabyBoomer50s]

I can sum up the problem in the Bay Area with one word: Compensation. It hasn’t kept up with skyrocketing housing prices. Some districts are trying to address the problem by building teacher housing. It’s not a scalable solution because it takes years to acquire land and secure development entitlements, even for small projects with 10 to 20 units. And the average cost to build a single housing unit is about a million dollars. The only answer is to do what the tech industry does - pay them competitively. And since school districts can’t issue stock options or RSUs, augment their salaries with housing vouchers to offset some of the sky high rental prices.

 

[TomTeacher19]

Underpaid.
Overworked.
Under-supplied.
Over-expensed.
Under-supported
Over-harassed.

Children behaving as if they have been raised in a barn and treating adults as their peers.

They get accused of "grooming" for having rainbow decorations, told they need to carry guns in order to protect themselves and get in trouble for not keeping up with the latest book bans. They are told it is their responsibility to make up for all the lack of proper parenting but not given any tools to do so - and in fact have countless obstacles thrown in their way.

Why are teaches quitting? Because they can't win for losing.

All spot on

I've been doing this for a quarter century now. I've never once worked a week where I didn't do at least ten hours of unpaid work because that's what it takes to do it well. That's not even including another five or six hours most weekends (like the three hours I spent this morning correcting papers, planning lessons, and answering emails). Every single year I hear and read more parents general complaints about teachers in social media and in school board meetings. My classes get bigger each year from budget cuts and just less and less teachers every year. I do coaching and supervision and hall duty and cover classes because we need all that extra income just to live normally and afford car repairs and send my own kids to college. Every year I have more kids whose parents expect me to teach their kids and supply them school supplies and snacks and teach them a thousand things not in the curriculum but at the same time there is no discipline or consequences allowed at all for the kids literally abusing teachers or other students. And a few years ago when COVID hit the first message we all got told was we need to pull off a miracle and revise everything we did on the fly to keep teaching remotely which was very quickly followed by we needed to be literally sacrificed so we could be forced into the least safe environment imaginable because even though we were disposable we were also essential as no one else wanted to be around their kids. And I'm not at all unique like this. And since this is the politics area, should also add that every damn election Democrats try to cater to us by making big promises to help that they never follow through on but Republicans just tell us we're to blame for everything, so we don't have much of a choice there either.

 

[ll74]

All spot on

I've been doing this for a quarter century now. I've never once worked a week where I didn't do at least ten hours of unpaid work because that's what it takes to do it well. That's not even including another five or six hours most weekends (like the three hours I spent this morning correcting papers, planning lessons, and answering emails). Every single year I hear and read more parents general complaints about teachers in social media and in school board meetings. My classes get bigger each year from budget cuts and just less and less teachers every year. I do coaching and supervision and hall duty and cover classes because we need all that extra income just to live normally and afford car repairs and send my own kids to college. Every year I have more kids whose parents expect me to teach their kids and supply them school supplies and snacks and teach them a thousand things not in the curriculum but at the same time there is no discipline or consequences allowed at all for the kids literally abusing teachers or other students. And a few years ago when COVID hit the first message we all got told was we need to pull off a miracle and revise everything we did on the fly to keep teaching remotely which was very quickly followed by we needed to be literally sacrificed so we could be forced into the least safe environment imaginable because even though we were disposable we were also essential as no one else wanted to be around their kids. And I'm not at all unique like this. And since this is the politics area, should also add that every damn election Democrats try to cater to us by making big promises to help that they never follow through on but Republicans just tell us we're to blame for everything, so we don't have much of a choice there either.

Nonsense! The unions are the issue. Quit making sense!

 

[BabyBoomer50s]

Lack of resources is a major issue. Mostly because there is always a new need for a new student. Teachers are given a set toolbox but their students need something different.... Happens all the time. Teaching is difficult. Learning is difficult. Doing both for 30-50 students is difficult.

All true. My kids finished K-12 education in the early 2000s, but even back then their teachers were spending their own money on student supplies. Engaged parents helped a lot but it shouldn’t have to be that way. In California, school bond measures can only be used for capital improvements and non-payroll expenses. My district passed a measure to fund classroom supplies which was helpful, but insufficient.

Another problem in CA and other parts of the country is that many students live in poverty. A college friend of my son’s is a high school teacher who lives in his mom’s garage because his salary isn’t enough to rent a decent apartment. He sees the struggles of his students every day. He’s bought shoes and clothing for students who would otherwise be without. That’s real life for teachers in many parts.

The funding mechanisms for school districts in CA is a black box. Counties collect property taxes that go to the state where complex formulas determine how they get allocated to districts across the state. It’s a mess. CA used to pride itself on the quality of its K-12 and higher education systems. Somewhere along the line, things went off the rails. This isn’t unique to CA. I’m just more attuned to what’s happening there because I was educated there and put two kids through the schools there from the time my youngest was in 4th grade and my oldest was in 7th through their high school graduations.

 

[BabyBoomer50s]

All spot on

I've been doing this for a quarter century now. I've never once worked a week where I didn't do at least ten hours of unpaid work because that's what it takes to do it well. That's not even including another five or six hours most weekends (like the three hours I spent this morning correcting papers, planning lessons, and answering emails). Every single year I hear and read more parents general complaints about teachers in social media and in school board meetings. My classes get bigger each year from budget cuts and just less and less teachers every year. I do coaching and supervision and hall duty and cover classes because we need all that extra income just to live normally and afford car repairs and send my own kids to college. Every year I have more kids whose parents expect me to teach their kids and supply them school supplies and snacks and teach them a thousand things not in the curriculum but at the same time there is no discipline or consequences allowed at all for the kids literally abusing teachers or other students. And a few years ago when COVID hit the first message we all got told was we need to pull off a miracle and revise everything we did on the fly to keep teaching remotely which was very quickly followed by we needed to be literally sacrificed so we could be forced into the least safe environment imaginable because even though we were disposable we were also essential as no one else wanted to be around their kids. And I'm not at all unique like this. And since this is the politics area, should also add that every damn election Democrats try to cater to us by making big promises to help that they never follow through on but Republicans just tell us we're to blame for everything, so we don't have much of a choice there either.

Good post Tom. Thanks for all you do to help kids learn and grow.

 

[PaxNurgle]

I can sum up the problem in the Bay Area with one word: Compensation. It hasn’t kept up with skyrocketing housing prices. Some districts are trying to address the problem by building teacher housing. It’s not a scalable solution because it takes years to acquire land and secure development entitlements, even for small projects with 10 to 20 units. And the average cost to build a single housing unit is about a million dollars. The only answer is to do what the tech industry does - pay them competitively. And since school districts can’t issue stock options or RSUs, augment their salaries with housing vouchers to offset some of the sky high rental prices.

This is actually a fair point; and it's one symptom of many in the San Francisco area where even millionaires are being squeezed out by skyrocketing housing costs.

 

[Lazaran]

Right winger BabyBoobs’ "thanks" to a teacher after voting for right wing scum who are crippling / have crippled public schools, teachers, and teaching as a profession, is about as meaningful and helpful as other right winger’s “thoughts and prayers” after voting for right wing scum who make it easy for murderers to get their hands on ridiculously overpowered guns.



BabyBoobs



Also:



JFC

SAD!!!

 

[Comshaw]

Right winger BabyBoobs’ "thanks" to a teacher after voting for right wing scum who are crippling / have crippled public schools, teachers, and teaching as a profession, is about as meaningful and helpful as other right winger’s “thoughts and prayers” after voting for right wing scum who make it easy for murderers to get their hands on ridiculously overpowered guns.



BabyBoobs



Also:



JFC

SAD!!!

What an ignorant dumb son of a bitch you are. Bye bye mother fucker.

 

[Lazaran]

What an ignorant dumb son of a bitch you are. Bye bye mother fucker.

Ignorant because I pointed out BabyBoobs’ hollow and disingenuous "thanks" to a teacher, after BabyBoobs has voted for right wing scum who have crippled public schools, teachers, and teaching as a profession???



Someone may want to reconsider who deserves the “ignorant dumb son of a bitch” label. (Hello “motherfucker” - one word)

 

[Chernosoth]

And students' cellphone addictions

 

[dkovic77]

And students' cellphone addictions

Well it is Arizona… education isn’t the highest priority there. Or maybe that was just under the former Governor.

 

[wizzard426]

Education? More like "communist indoctrination"

That's ok, I'm sure that you will find a better system in China