Stop asking teachers to go back to the classroom

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Okay…minor rant time.
Please stop asking the question: “Is going back to teaching an option?”
No, it isn’t - and it’s frankly both a rude and insensitive question because I've been very transparent about why I left teaching.
I know people mean well and are trying to offer a solution to unemployment, but it would be mentally traumatic to do so - despite the consequences.
What really angered me though was when someone asked: “So you would rather watch your partner suffer than go back to teaching?”
I’m in a much better place now, but the trauma and mental health issues from my time in the classroom will last a lifetime, and my partner of all people knows that. She encouraged me to get out originally too.
Do I need a paycheck right now?
Of course.
Do I need one so bad that I would be willing to become the very thing I have sworn to never be again?
No, and I would be doing myself and my partner a disservice by going back to such an environment.
I was a broken and self-loathing person by the end of my teaching career who desperately wanted to leave education and find a job where I would be better respected and not taken for granted.
Do many go back to teaching until they find something else?
Sure, and I’ve known a number who have been able to do that.
But the constant question of “is going back an option” really highlights the issue that the general public doesn’t seem to understand just how bad things inherently are for teachers now.
I don’t feel the calling to teach anymore - and many others don't either.
#jobsearch #careerchange #unemplyment #transitioningteachers #mentalhealth #rducation #instructionaldesigner #linkedincommunity

Опубликовано:

9 сен 2024

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Комментарии : 29

@fatinabangura7265 Месяц назад

I left teaching and I don’t ever see myself being one again. I will not miss the unsupportive admin, the teachers that so call care about you but micromanage you and tell what you’re doing to others, some of the students are extremely disrespectful. The list is endless! Never ever again!!!!!

@KevinTheID Месяц назад

You shouldn't want to either! Administrators by and large are not supportive anymore and lack education experience of their own. Many are failed teachers or those who were never taught in the classroom at all. I think in all my years in the classroom I only ever had ONE administrator I really respected, and that's because he treated me with respect and gave me the benefit of the doubt whenever he could. All the other ones were either aloof or openly hostile of everything I did - and like you said, micromanaged everything. Not to mention that we have entered the worst era in all of American history for student discipline. We don't provide consequences for misbehavior anymore and cater to them instead of setting boundaries. I got tired of spending more time on that and paperwork than actually being a teacher.

@fatinabangura7265 Месяц назад

@@KevinTheID if that’s not the truth then I don’t know what is! For the life of me, I can never understand why anyone would want to teach in this era!

@KevinTheID Месяц назад

@@fatinabangura7265 Few do really. It's why there's such a teacher recruitment and retention crisis not just in this country but around the world too. It's what our podcast was literally founded on.

@munimathbypeterfelton6251 10 дней назад

Hear hear!! I left teaching in 2023 after 22 years for all the reasons you mentioned and many many others! Since then, some people I either know personally or know through other people on either casual or business bases have tried to persuade me to return to teaching and I have simply given them a firm NO! Immature, ignorant, narcissistic individuals out there or even in a teacher’s own circles will always try to tell you, “Oh, but teachers are so badly needed! It is such an important job! You are the reason why children succeed! The world won’t survive without you!” Well yes, they are correct there. Without teachers, the world will be worse off. But as long as teachers are used and abused by a grossly uneducated, idiotic federal government, society, and system that is going nowhere fast, no teacher need stay onboard a sinking ship that is moving downward at the speed of light. And no amount of ill-willed convincing on others’ parts will do the trick. Especially when those people don’t listen at all to the former teachers themselves when they articulate the totally legitimate reasons face to face why they left the profession permanently. If one is not part of the solution, then they are part of the problem!

@KevinTheID 10 дней назад

Exactly and I really wish people would realize that there are reasons we left which we are genuinely passionate about. Plus, if they think teachers are so important and badly needed, then why haven't they done anything to make the system better so we wouldn't have had to leave in the first place? It's amazing how society acknowledges that educators are necessary and doing a great service but then force us to tolerate ludicrous levels of disrespect and violence, draconian administrators, and an environment that doesn't care about our mental health or work life balance. It seems that people are either oblivious to how bad it is in education for teachers or they don't want to convince policymakers with actual political capital to do anything about it - which is more the case. Like you said, they're part of the problem.

@BinoDist 2 дня назад

Hell would have to freeze rock solid before I'd set foot in a classroom again.

@KevinTheID 2 дня назад

Yeah, and even then we probably still wouldn't be a teacher again.

@tjmiller9625 Месяц назад

This is so sad. I never really knew there are so many other people who have had similar experiences as I being an educator. Watching your video and reading some of the comments just brought back so many awful memories of my time as a teacher. As I said before its sad, because I do love teaching but its bad for my health and my family. I hope some positive changes can be made so present & furure teachers can have a better experience.

@KevinTheID Месяц назад

You aren't alone for sure. More than a million educators have quit or retired early since January, 2020 (over 10% of all teachers in the country). Education has devolved considerably and is no longer the tiring but fulfilling career that it used to be. It's a great career but a terrible job. I loved teaching, but not everything else that came with it. The pandemic really served as a wakeup call to teachers on how little they were valued and how badly they were treated - not to mention the appalling pay. It is a mentally degrading profession that no longer supports us but rather sucks educators dry of whatever passion they have when they first start out as first year teachers. It's why there has been such a massive exodus from the classroom these last several years and why we have such a terrible teacher retention crisis in this country and internationally as well. (I've helped teachers in the UK, Dubai, and the Philippines trying to get out for the same reasons we have here.) I'm glad you got away from such an environment though and have moved onto somewhere that supports your mental, physical, and emotional health so you can actually feel like you have time off and are able to be there for your family!

@avarice.karmageddon Месяц назад

Thank you for speaking out on this! My family keeps pressuring me go to teaching after I left when I finished student teaching and my master's in teaching degree. I was depressed, suicidal, super stressed, sleep deprived and neglected time with family. I hated being a student teacher, there were a handful of great students but the majority just copied off, cheated off and didn't do the work while teachers had never ending unrealistic expectations, pressures and spending thousands of dollars of their own money for their classrooms and students. I will not go near education, I'd rather work in private sector than education.

@KevinTheID Месяц назад

My pleasure, and I'm glad this resonated! You aren't alone there either in how you burned out during your student teaching - my own partner did as well. She barely finished her credential and then couldn't bring herself to actually find a fulltime position. She was so unbelievably stressed out and unhappy after her experiences that she immediately changed and went into food service and retail management where she's much happier now. I loved my students and I will always be proud of what I accomplished. I made a genuine difference in the lives of thousands of young lives and I still keep in touch with a few here and there. No one can take those positive experiences away from me...but they became such a tiny fraction of the job toward the end of my time in the classroom. I was burned out, angry, was always having to defend myself, and had almost become a self-loathing person. I wasn't a good partner or friend and ended up pushing a lot of people away. I felt better within two days of leaving teaching and started to discover not only happiness again, but myself and who I wanted to be. I will never go back to teaching because I respect myself too much to do so. Glad you got out too!

@Omar_GnomeBoisTCG Месяц назад

Hey man, keep fighting the good fight. From one former teacher to another.

@KevinTheID Месяц назад

That's my plan, thanks man!

@toniwaugh1823 День назад

Happy to be retired from my 28 year teaching career!! I taught in Ontario Canada. Fortunately, teachers get paid well compared to our neighbours to the south. It wasn't the way I wanted to retire. I decided to retire with just 5 months left before my official retirement date when my dear husband passed away in January 2022. 😞 I was fortunate to have the permission to teach online for almost 2 years due to the pandemic and my husband's compromised health issues. Teaching has gotten progressively more stressful as the years go by because of the lack of support and respect from administrators and parents. When students have issues at school, it's because of the teacher. Discipline is a thing of the past. Many children today are entitled, rude, lazy and lack the motivation to work hard. I found that very disheartening in the last few years of my teaching career.

@KevinTheID День назад

It is disheartening but I'm glad you've reached your well-earned retirement! Education is by and large going through a crisis and we aren't really trying to get at the root causes of why that is. Parenting has changed, students are more violent and disruptive than ever before, and we don't provide the effective discipline or boundaries they need during their adolescence. They grow up with that sense of entitlement and lack of motivation you mentioned too as a result of that. Plus, people treat teachers very poorly and instead of working with us to meet the needs of their kids, we feel attacked and on the defensive more often than not. Rather than "what can I do to help my child succeed," it's become "why are you failing my child?" I feel there's just such an adversarial relationship now and it's adding to the burnout so many of us already feel.

@toniwaugh1823 11 часов назад

@@KevinTheID Thank you! Very well said!! I get the feeling that in the States violence in the classrooms and unbelievable shootings (like the one in Georgia by a 14 year old boy) as well are rampant. We've had a few incidents of stabbings in our local high schools which is so very sad to hear. Society as a whole has drastically changed. I fear the safety of innocent children and educators.

@KevinTheID 11 часов назад

@@toniwaugh1823 I actually just posted a video this morning about the shooting in Georgia. It's a widespread issue and we're not getting at the root of the problem - instead focusing on hot-button political parts of it.

@marcmeinzer8859 Месяц назад

People who haven’t taught school are never going to get it. That’s why they keep voting yes on school levies.

@KevinTheID Месяц назад

Well, I would say that many think that just throwing more money at the problem is going to solve the ills of education, when it simply won't.

@marcmeinzer8859 Месяц назад

@@KevinTheID A big question is was there a time when the schools were doing their job? And if so, could the schools be regressed back to the model which actually worked? And what you would find, I’d wager, is that it became politically impossible to make the schools work, since quite obviously, the only place today where public schools really work to any appreciable level is in the wealthier suburbs. But of course there are now major problems which give every school district horrible retention problems.

@KevinTheID Месяц назад

@@marcmeinzer8859 Politics have always ben part of education but they have subverted it to such a degree that I don't think we can effectively reform or regress the system to where it needs to be. The system is inherently built upon a series of Band-Aids that as soon as you remove one - 5 more appear. What we need is to completely get rid of our current system and replace it with one that respects teachers as professionals, funds/pays them living wages, and which allows them to create lessons that aren't hamstrung by moronic standards and policies drummed up by administrators, textbook manufacturers, testing companies, and politicians.

@marcmeinzer8859 Месяц назад

@@KevinTheID Agreed. I lasted 7 years and quit in 1988. Being a drunk helped me cope with teaching. It also helped me cope with the merchant marine which is what I did for 8 years after quitting teaching. Then finally, once I’d managed to sober up, I went to barber college and did that, only for the money, for 20 years. The problem with the social promotion agenda in the schools is that you don’t get parents asking about these joint vocational schools because they’re in touch with reality and have come to the realization that their kids are too stupid for college. When the average college kid only has an IQ of 102 basically nobody is too stupid for college anymore with few exceptions.

@KevinTheID Месяц назад

@@marcmeinzer8859 We did an entire podcast episode and I did another video on teacher substance abuse. It is way more prevalent than what is reported.

@Smw006 Месяц назад

You had a student light a fire in your room, too?

@KevinTheID Месяц назад

Yes, twice actually! I quit after the second fire when it was clear that my administration had no intention of doing anything about it whatsoever.

@DeShaunJohnson Месяц назад

I’m sympathize (edit) with your unemployment challenges. So, are depending on RU-vid for income? Are developing any skills during this downtime? You definitely don’t have to go back to teaching, but there are other professions to explore. What and where have you applied to so far? Your experience could help another former teacher.

@KevinTheID Месяц назад

I receive no income from RU-vid at all. The standards for getting monetized on this platform are actually very difficult for most creators. I continue to develop my instructional design skills, particularly in video editing (as can be seen in these videos) and in authoring tools we use in the field. I also routinely help other educators leave the classroom, which is the purpose of the podcast I cohost and many of my RU-vid videos as well.