Why Teachers Are Leaving The Profession 

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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!

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!!!

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

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!

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 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.

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.

@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. 😐

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 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.

Aww! Thank you! 🙏🏼

You're the reason teachers teach.

Thank you for your beautiful comment 🥹💙💙 this means a lot 💙

Exactly what the hell is going on

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.

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.

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.

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?

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!

It is quite scary how anti-science this country has become.

So basically you're complaining that you get paid they same as the next regular Joe .. But here's the thing . You get summers off. Sure someone might make the same as you but they'll have to work all year round for that same pay you get as opposed to 2 months less

@@queenb9668 Nope. I left the regular workforce to go into teaching, I know both sides. Based on the number of hours I work per year verses pay, my overall hourly pay is

@@queenb9668 Teachers are paid 10 months NOT 12 months ot of the year - not paid for the two months "off". Most teachers are paying out of pocket for trainings usually taken over the summer to apply said training to keep their license/certification current. Thanks for updating your misconceptions on this profession. People don't really appreciate it until they've experienced the reality of it by stepping into the classroom.

Masks are science.

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!!

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

🤪🤯😠

You are absolutely right about that

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.

WT.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Omg! You go!

You are my HERO!!! Yes!!!!! 🙌🙌🙌

Your class is NOT your kingdom.

But the 7 layer burrito!!!! Bye.. 😞

@Caylin Choquette I got a homemade brownie and an ADHD student off his meds all day! The JOY!

@Caylin Choquette Oof, right in the gut.

@Caylin Choquette Damn.

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.

32?! I would have stopped at 30!

I'm the same as your husband. Almost finished.

@@eleanorbrown3487 In my district, no one can afford to stop before medicare. If you do, single person's monthly health insurance costs $1342. This is more than my pension would be! But my pension at $1100 is just high enough I can't qualify for Medicaid. Hmm yup keep on going. Sucks. I regret my choice for so many, many reasons. However, teaching was good in 1990's. Ever since 2005 it's been beyond bad. Kids aren't being parented properly and many are brats, Karens and Kens for parents, drug/alcohol babies with extreme needs, forcing of extreme special education students and limited English proficient students into general education classes. (Means teachers must also cater to them and only so many instructional hours in the day to be split HOW many ways???!!!). School districts holding teachers accountable for student performance. (If patients go to the doctor and refuse to do what doctor says and then die--well then the doctor can't be sued. However in education, these kids don't go home and memorize or practice anything, don't have enough sleep or good nutrition, aren't given behavioral limits in the home, and act like gutter rats but I'm supposed to wave a magic wand and they learn?). I am also forced to do things unrelated to teaching/learning such as 1)contacting parents about parenting classes, free shoes for kids, free clothing for kids, Lions club eye testing, free dental exam for Medicaid kids, school pictures, food bank deliveries for families, take home food in backpack program, blah blah blah. A school shouldn't be a social services location. It sucks up learning time. If parents want the free stuff, they should jolly well do it before or after school hours and quit using my instructional time. Oh my gosh so many more reasons but it's 2am and I already can't sleep because of work stress.

What do you do now?

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.

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

I wanted to work in museums but like you said, nothing full time is available. I got my teaching credential instead, miserable but surviving. 🤷‍♀️

I do

Meet the altruistic 1% of teachers. These folks deserve to be making 6 figures in all parts of the country. Seeing as we do not pay teachers like this, and we expect teachers to work 80 hours a week; the teachers shortage will continue.

Me too

Agreed

The other profession treated that way is software developers. Only thing is they make more money...

I’m glad you feel better now. So do I the more I realize that I’m not the only teacher going through this. Thank you.

I can definitely relate to you..

Don't you stay in that place. Make some options happen for you!

Preach it sister. Being sick and staying late to leave detailed enough instruction for a sub, but one doesn't show so your team covers class. We would rich if we got hourly pay for all the extra we do.

And you're a lions fan...even MORE silver linings...

Im a teacher. I always encourage people going into teaching not to.

same her. just coming out of a 7 month long term sub assignment with a virtual class. Applying for full time next year. Terrified but it's the only life I know 🤷🏻‍♀️

@@NoName-ot8kl amen. Going to try to DCP and to get a full time position with the Disney company instead.

I was about to go into teaching but then I learned how poor the quality can be

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!

Test proctoring and monitoring gives us more time to plan our escape. That's hilarious! 🤣

I read an article about a district in San Antonio that is going to pay teachers in low income areas $100,000/year minimum. Then in small print, it said that they would have to work an extra hour every school day and an additional 20 school days a year...if you do the math from the average salary in that district that’s just the same pay they get now per (perceived) hour worked. Do they think teachers are stupid...teachers teach how to solve hourly pay and income problems. And I can’t imagine staying an extra hour every day after a looong day and an extra 20 days a year. Working in low income areas is already draining emotionally and physically and to endure more of that is just going to increase their burn out rate.

@@megamathwmeg admittedly there are a large portion of Americans that put in more than 1 hour of overtime per day; but that's just showing that corporate greed is wanting to take more of my life away. Like seriously, let's do some maths. I need 8-9 hours of sleep, I need 1-2 hours to get ready in the morning and at night to sleep. If I don't cook I can eat in 1 hour; but if I cook that's gonna be more like 2 hours. That's half your day right there. If you spend 30 minutes back and forth from work, stay at work for 8 hours you're left with... 3 hours of personal time. 1/8th of your entire day is all that's left for you, and that's without considering what a "normal" life also includes. This is just Eat, Sleep, Work, Rest, Repeat until Dead.

There is nothing like the people who are generating most of the unnecessary stress in your life bombarding you with emails about how to reduce the stress in your life. It's a good thing I started meditation and yoga long before covid hit, because after all of the emails I got from the school district about free classes on meditation and yoga and admins starting staff meetings with group meditation, I didn't want to do any of that because I was so irritated with the people telling me to do it. It was really hard not to associate a healthy coping mechanism I had been using and liked with people who drove me absolutely insane.

damn this is when we hope hogwarts was an option except for you, tom riddle that was a bad idea for you

Teach overseas. South Korea and Japan are supposed to be amazing. I taught English in Peru and it was the most rewarding experience.

I HATE that I now am jaded and tell college kids DONT DO IT.

Private school or go overseas is totally a valid option. But if you do go into public school in the States, it's really not a terrible profession, and teachers like to bitch A LOT. You have to stay focused on the positives - the time off. The act of teaching itself is a lot of fun, even planning can be pretty fun. The paperwork honestly isn't that bad, unless you've just never experienced paperwork in a job before. The district level admin and politics are things that really suck. I want to say "parents suck," but I'll be diplomatic and say, "parents can be challenging." But really, any job is going to have its ups and downs. It depends a lot on the kind of school you are in, too. My sister teaches at a private school and doesn't have the same complaints that I do. Likewise, she complains about things that aren't on my radar at all. Any professional job these days has it's problems. You take the good with the bad.

Switch now

@@anniewarbucks9697 I had multiple teachers telling me that back in 2012, and I'm thankful for it. I was able to skip my student teaching semester which meant that I graduated with a bachelor's degree but didn't get my teaching license since I had realized that I didn't want to go into the field (I also got chronically ill and couldn't really hold a full time job by that point, but the teachers telling me about all the problems were actually really helpful. I babysit on the side now, so I still work with kids but it's much easier and doesn't pay too poorly.)

Or 3

What kind of work do you do now?