Teacher shortages: Why educators are leaving the profession in droves | USA TODAY 

Out of control kids, parents who don't hold them accountable, and blaming the teachers for everything Im not surprised

The kids are too damn bad, and their parents are even worse.

The culture of respect in schools need to be brought back. Respect from the kids and administrators. Higher pay and support when it comes to dealing with behavioral issues.

I left teaching. It is unsustainable as a profession, too much personal, financial and now adding the threat to personal safety all for low wage. I entered the tech sector for much higher pay and safer conditions.

Teaching was once a noble profession when a teachers role of reading, writing and arithmetic was clearly defined. Unlike other professions with clear duties teachers are expected to wear whatever hats they’re told to wear or quit if they don’t like it. Sickening.

I quit teaching after 5+ years. I continuously feel anger bursting out that I have to contain when I think of that principal and how she treated me. This was in LAUSD, Los Angeles. What I hated the most, was that I couldn't report her to the administration higher ups because of fear of retaliation. In a country where recommendations mean a lot, employees need to suck up no matter how unethical or cruel their supervisors might be. That is the REAL problem. The system puts way to much power on principals and they puts impossible expectations on teachers.

Teaching is a dying profession. It’s really sad what it has become. Many teachers say that most of the time is spent on testing. I had a teacher about year ago tell me I came into this profession to teach not to be a tester/ babysitter. Very sad what it has become.

Put politicians in classrooms for a few years and watch things change. As a veteran teacher, I have 46 days to go and I’m out. The fight is not worth it.

Reality is in most places you can’t raise a family on a teacher’s income. Pensions are not portable and are woefully inefficient. And 15 states are WEP/GPO states where teachers’ social security is reduced as well as that of their peers. I did 6 years of college and made $27000 gross with a masters degree the first year of teaching.

underpayed, underappreciated & ridiculed by parents & "the system" .... what do we expect to happen?

It’s the behavior…period.

Speaking as an educator. The students are bad as ever, no ability to retain so students misbehave and act out all day with no consequences. The office is a big joke they take them and bring them back the parents are crazy just to name a few!

The disiintegration of family life, the high divorce rate, men rejecting fatherhood, the high rate of illegitimacy means too many parents are using the schools as daycare centers. As one teacher put it, "Children should be sent to school to be educated, not raised."

I can’t stand it when I see ex-teachers cry for leaving. It’s like getting a commuted sentence. Be happy you were able to got the hell out. I’ve told both my daughters to never, under any circumstances, become a teacher. I have 6-7 more years before I can retire “early” with medical and a little less than 2/3 of my full pension, after 30-31 years of teaching at 56-57 yo. Teachers need to get their full pension after 20 yrs like cops and firefighters bc we go thru more trauma than they do. former cops who went into teaching have said that teaching is much more stressful than any situation they were ever in as a cop! 😱👀☠️

I’ve found a nice balance over the years. I work as a junior professor of linguistics and TESOL at a community college part-time and as a city bus driver 3/4 time with full benefits and some nice retirement. Full-time as a public school teacher can be quite a disaster these days.

I’m a student. If you go to a classroom and ask what students wanna be. At least 4 elementary kids will say teacher. But no high schooler will. People realize that teaching is not a good job. Dealing with shit kids, for subpar pay. I wouldn’t do that job

It's unfortunate that kids weponize their parents and record teacher "slipping" a joke or breaking character.

Students attack us from pre school.

Don't forget all the retiring baby-boom teachers, and younger people don't seem eager to become teachers.

It won get better until they treat people better and show some humanity

Teachers aren’t often allowed to teach. They have to use scripted curricula or unit plans written by district departments, and none of them know the kids as good as the teachers. Parents make excuses. Many teachers are more experienced than administrators, so the admin feel a power struggle. Teachers spend their own money time and time again. Behavior is off the chain!

It’s pay. Better pay equals better teachers. And get rid of having a Masters degree as a requirement. So many teachers are burned out before they even start. In Arizona starting pay for a new teacher is 25k. It’s absurd. No one can live on that. And they put so much of their own money into their classrooms. Get yelled at by administrators and parents. As much money we spend of defense and technology and oil we should spend on education.

My brother who has an educator for 30 years said even kindergarten girls for beating each other up in class it was unacceptable but they did nothing about it

I worked in winter park high school and I was raising other ppls kids nope

The no child left behind act ruined teaching

Teaching is not for everyone, at least long-term. It really is a calling. I left in 2022 after 20+ years in the classroom, and about 30 years of working with kids. I left because I felt like my effectiveness was not where I wanted it to be. I left with my mind and health intact. I loved my first-grade peeps. I had a superhero class, and I miss seeing them terribly. But, it was time to go.

charter schools are hotbeds of financial impropriety and questionable practices BUT they have the huge advantage of being able to kick out students with disruptive behavior and/or chronic absenteeism.

Tired of getting blamed for everything and not being given anything to fix it with.

I occasionally do service calls at high schools…. Unbelievable. It’s Literally easy to gain access to a Prison than a school.

I have been teaching for 14 years... last 12 months.. I've questioned it.

Thank you so much for your dedication to future generations. Be well dear educators. Stay strong.

Teachers ARE heroes especially the ones like in this video who obviously are good people.

I have been teaching for almost thirty years. My kids are great. My admin is fine. My parents are kind. I will keep teaching until I can't get up anymore. I think many teachers put too much of their life into it. Its a job. Do your best, but don't kill yourself. You can't save the world.

Things changed with No Child Left Behind!!!

I retired from the profession much earlier than I had planned. Administration and even parents began making demands that weren’t doable, considering class sizes, variations of abilities in a single class, and throwing in an inability to communicate with some students.

You can bet there will be better PR. But long term it won't help. The truth is out.

It's gotten bad in preschools too. Some parents see preschool teachers as their personal nannies. Parents don't even want to potty train their own children at home anymore.

Your point about 'lack of autonomy' is important! James

GOP leaders and parents have greatly increased attacking innocent teachers. I can see why they don’t want to stay.

theres no teacher shortage;pay teachers more and have students respect them more

My mom is a teacher and is literally struggling financially. Teachers in my GOP led state are falling into poverty and a lot of the nicities I enjoyed throughout my life prior to my state being captured have been waning. This is the first Christmas where I get a lump sum to spend and that’s all, they used to be much bigger but my mom doesn’t have the money anymore because she has to go into debt to stay above water since her boss won’t pay her anywhere near enough to survive. I think my mom either moving to another country that pays their teachers much better or going into another occupation such as insurance would be much better financially for my mom and policy makers should have to deal with a crisis to know they are starving the schools with their insistence on underpaying teachers. The recent issues like misbehaved kids and policies where thugs can come in an police what a teacher teachers in the name of ‘protecting children’ only make this much worse. This is what happens when ultimillionaire businessmen’s kids are the ones making all the policies in my state.

Part of the problem is parents not wanting to teach their children manners & how to behave. Then they go to school and cuss teachers out, fight in the classroom, etc and the parents do everything they can to keep those kids in the classroom so they don’t have to deal with them. And then you have school officials and politicians stating that kids who get disciplined for throwing a desk or whatever are on a prison pipeline. Children deserve to feel safe and have a safe environment to learn in. Teachers deserve to feel safe and have a safe environment to teach in. If a child throws a desk or starts being violent they need to be removed & not allowed back. Full stop. You lost your chance. Caught selling drugs at school? You’re out. No coming back. Maybe then the parents will teach them how to behave, since they will have to figure out what to do with them now.

Teaching used to be a noble profession. But nobility doesn't pay the bills. In particular red states, teacher pay is subpar. Factor in disrespectful parents, less support from admin, why would you consider Teaching? It's a sad state of affairs for a society that can't find teachers

Pay is a huge concern especially in the current economy

i am a teachers aid and I feel so bad for teachers. Covid made things bad but now no cell phones policy is making it much worse. My teacher spends almost the whole hour screaming: take off your hat, focus please, put your cel phone away, remove your earbuds, no cussing etc etc. She probably spends 10 minutes taching kids that don not want to learn anything

"Both sides" didn't politicize culture wars that targeted teachers. Just saying. 🤷🏿‍♂️

I was already stressed. COVId did me in. I retired 7 years earlier than I had planned, but I just couldn’t do it anymore. I miss the kids and my colleagues. I miss the routine, but I just can’t go back. Teachers were applauded during the pandemic and now, we’re disrespected again. Our administration did whatever they could to make their lives simpler regardless of the cost to us, the teachers. They hide in their offices and make sweeping decisions without any knowledge or our input. Raising salaries will help, somewhat. It won’t be enough. Teachers need to be respected. Parents need to be held accountable. I absolutely hated the Danielson rubric for teachers. It was so degrading and didn’t paint an accurate picture of what was going on. Some teachers had special plans they kept in reserve for their pop in observations. I feel my blood pressure mounting as I write this. It’s a noble, ancient profession. It’s time to respect teachers.

It's not just the pay. Or the disrespect/bad behavior from students and parents. It's the fact that a school shooting can happen any day at any time. Teachers are afraid for their lives. America has the highest amount of school shootings than any other country.

"Educators" are not leaving...they are in their Offices, safe from the real world. TEACHERS...who do the Actual WORK ...are the ones leaving.

fact: in many countries around the world, only the worst performing college graduates become teachers. The few countries where this is not the case are the ones that value teachers for the important people they are, like Singapore, Korea.

Public school systems are a monopoly. If we followed the Sweden system (a place some politicians like to say we need to emulate) they have public funded private schools, the students have to test into going into 10-12 grade programs, Academics or vocational. If they don’t pass then other options are available. Our system is beyond broken and the states have a monopoly over families by controlling the funding for alternative school choice.

You want to fix the issues. Pay teachers more so we don’t need second jobs to make ends meet. Hold parents responsible for the actions of their children. Hold students responsible for their actions. Raise the expectations! If you continue to lower the bar we will never recover.

I quit after my first year. I knew that it would not be an easy job and I was the type that was passionate about moulding young minds. But the sad truth is that we as teachers don't have a voice. Nevermind everything you're doing right, people only see the bad. I did not receive the proper support I needed from my fellow teachers and was instead made fun of for struggling, as well as being seen as unfit. My HOD went out of her way to make my life hard and said in front of other teachers that "I had to grow a pair". That's the answer I got when I said that I can't controll my class no matter what I try. And in between all the chaos we have to teach, assesss and get results in.That's not why I became a teacher. I wasted 4 years of my life studying for a dead profession

As a teacher for 15 years here are a few of the problems. Disrespectful students & parents, too many administrators who do nothing to support teachers, they also don’t teach & take huge paychecks. Crappy materials, terrible benefits. Barely any protection at all from the idiots that do menacing harm to innocent people in schools. I can’t afford the median cost of housing in ANY city or town within a 30 mile radius of where I work. I live in one of the top 20 populated cities in the US. Anyone who says we should just get another job, or we get summers off, etc. has no clue what they’re talking about. I have a part time job as well. In 20-30 years our society will greatly suffer due to the the terrible education system that we as people continue to allow.

I had a job interview to teach and they didn't state that it was to teach children. Then they went on to ask what I would do if I came across combative children? I knew then that they are having problems getting teachers to deal with these bad kids. Above all, the pay was the same as someone who works in a warehouse... If these are the incentives then no wonder teachers are leaving the profession.

Schools will have to change. The whole system will need to change. Probably going to need to be shut down or fail before that happens. If you are not being valued get out of there. Return when our population figures out if we value education and are willing to vote for supporting it. Take your skills outside of the US.

You should send note to him with the students saying if their parent, if their parents wanna be a teacher, go to this website and sign up or go to this college website would be become

Why would anyone want to teach at a public school when there are students and teachers at risk of getting beaten by delinquent students?

How about the absolute poor treatment from administrators, parents but most of all students. There are no more consequences for behaviour . Until that changes, the good teachers will continue to leave.

This is why i plan on home school for my kids when they are old enough, i live in a community with packs of home schoolers, if this problem is still an issue, which it most likely will be.

My mother was a teacher. My sister is close to retirement. My mother ( elementary school) was offered early retirement at full pension after she was attacked by an indigenous student she when she tried to intervene when he was attacking another smaller child. He laughed at my mother with his indigenous political backing at that was then. My mother took the retirement in an instant. My sister followed in her footsteps and she has it way worse. The second she retired will be like getting out of prison.

I'm the author of EIGHT DAYS IN AN INNER CITY SCHOOL. Out of control OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING has ran more teachers out of teaching than anything else

Virtual was awesome.

How has the interest level from the most talented teachers entering this profession, been affected ?

So shes leaving and heart broken because now parents know what is being taught their kids.

And now they are laying teachers off.

There are PLENTY OF TEACHERS !!! There just aren't enough ( any?) decent school districts for us to teach in.

Hello Did you know what the meaning of " every and their mother " Of a slang

You cannot be an educator and breadwinner.

Ooooohhh; let me see . . .

I can’t seem to share it but I have a cartoon of a kid standing in front of a teachers desk with the parents standing behind the teacher wanting to know why the kid has bad grades….the other half of the cartoon shows present day with the parents standing behind the kid this time demanding to know why their little Johnny has bad grades…

You don’t need a degree to be a teacher in Arizona. Instead of raising pay, they lowered standards.

At 4:00 Educated Parents Are A School Boards Worst Nightmare. Oh the irony.

Left in 2020. No more balancing political agendas and teaching and couldn't be happier.

Dark

I absolutely understand why teachers in the USA are resigning. But surprisingly, other countries that treat their teachers (not good but) way better also have the problem of teacher shortages. Great Britain e.g. and even Germany. In Germany, we teachers are civil servants, cannot be dismissed (and cannot simply resign) and are well paid, with regular salary increases, bonuses, top health insurance, opportunities to reduce working hours so that it suits your own family, for example. But there are still too few. Nobody wants to do the job. In the UK, the woke agenda, disrespectful students and stressful parents are openly cited as the cause. German teachers are not allowed to say such things, because they have "the duty of good conduct" towards their political leaders and their decissions. But I would suspect that trouble making loud mini minorities, the fact that in many higher classes now 50% do not speak German, just as many do not respect women, - even their mostly female teachers, - not at all interested or supportive parents , an ever-expanding bureaucracy (in the meantime I sit 2 hours a day on forms, applications, registrations, statistics - of course I don't get paid for the overtime) and the constant media shitting about the lazy, inflexible, undertrained teachers, who have no idea anyway. Then there are the miserable school conditions to work. Chairs that splinter into your flesh, antediluvian equipment such as overhead projectors and wall maps that still show the GDR, mold in classrooms that have been in need of renovation for 40 years, or the fact that in our teachers' toilet of 5 toilets only 2 have toilet seats and despite the pandemic, only 1 working washbasin. But - hey - we have now got a new fully automatic coffee machine and can draw two cups of coffee in one minute (for 80 staff members), for which we only pay €2. For our own safety and for energy reasons, we are no longer allowed to operate our 90 cups coffee machine... Shouldn't you be cynical?

People are too soft these days. Learn the skill of not internalizing bad things around you and being a teacher is an amazing gig. Accept the fact that you can't change the world, you can't fix stupid, most parents are uninvolved idiots - JUST WORK HARD TO HELP PEOPLE THAT WANT TO BE HELPED. Then go home at 3 and enjoy the rest of your afternoon as you count down the days to Spring, Fall, Winter, and Summer break. Relish the occasional state/federally mandated three day weekend. Use your accrued sick leave to take the occasional mental health work day off and go have a glorious day doing what you want to do, appreciating that you have the power to treat yourself in this this way. Don't think of yourself as a teacher, but rather a human being that works at a school. Set healthy boundaries, be almost robotic about it. Don't bring home to school, don't bring school into your home. COMPARTMENTALIZE. -a 25 year veteran teacher

their simply leaveing because threy find out teaching not for them that the truth don't listen to the lies about how it is because it's not

Parents that need a job give them a job

This video hits the nail on the head!

Any chalk....

Immigration from poor countries is the answer. Pay third world wages you deserve third world teachers. Not that they're bad teachers.

Tired of the brainwashing nonsense ! GO! The part where you were doing any good is long over.

hahaha

We should never close down those schools

I m retired USA army, and I worked 15 years after the army in the Financial services, many times I said I hate my job, but bills had to be paid I wanted a military pension, welcome to the club of all the people who hate their job. cry me a river

One thing she didn't mention, laws in various states (TX, FL, etc) with wannabe Trumps who are trying to make a name for themselves.These laws are so vague, that let's say a male teacher has a picture of his partner on the desk he is advised to say it is a friend. 41% of MATH textbooks in TX were eliminated because they were too "woke". This is a whole new are of stressors for some teachers. Like we need to make the classroom MORE stressful.

I believe many of these teachers are lunatics

A lot of the teachers left are activists. Gone are the days of proper education and boundaries.

To hear teachers speak, their lack of understanding of the english language, makes me sad.

Let them leave and make room for true Teachers that's all is going to happen. God is not going to continue to Adults complain about Children - that's evil and sadistic.

The sign said “Teach facts not feelings” the most delusional idiotic thing I ever read

The woke policies of the public education system has also taken an extreme toll on the teaching shortage.

I left 3 years ago and i'm so glad i did. the system is so broken and needs to be changed on the cultural level. Americans don't value education.

I taught for a few years and would never in my life walk back into a K-12 classroom. It's not even a compensation issue. It's the stress, disrespect, and insufficient resources to do our jobs. Just no, no, no. And the education that I received from a teaching college was a joke.

A guy once told me that teachers only work 185 days a year. I said, and you only sit at a desk. You don't have to work with 150 teenagers a day.

I’m quitting after 4 years. These students are violent, don’t care about their edu in most cases, parents are never held accountable, I’m not paid enough and management is the worst

In order to get more teachers / substitute teachers into the classroom they need to raise their salary to, or above the national average maybe, they will get more people interested in the teaching profession!

I lucked out, I have one class where the kids are so good that the one bad kid left. But I'm still considering leaving. I literally can't afford to be a teacher. I want a house and can't even be considered for these inflated mortgages

America once a melting pot is now just the pot (i.e., the toilet). Yes, I was a physics professor.