Why So Many Leave Teaching................... About This Page:

[MickeyMAC]

I got this email a few minutes ago. It reminded me of Matt's post about his thoughts on leaving teaching. Most of you can relate to this through your own teaching job or through your child's teacher:

Let me see if I've got this right. You want me to go

into that room with all those kids and fill their

every waking moment with a love for learning. Not

only that, I'm supposed to instill a sense of pride

in their ethnicity, behaviorally modify disruptive

behavior, observe them for signs of abuse and

T-shirt messages.





I am to fight the war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases,

check their backpacks for guns and raise their self-esteem. I'm

to teach them patriotism, good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair

play, how and where to register to vote, how to balance a

checkbook and how to apply for a job.





I am to check their heads occasionally for lice, maintain a safe

environment, recognize signs of potential antisocial behavior, offer

advice, write letters of recommendation for student employment and

scholarships, encourage respect for the cultural diversity of others,

and, oh yeah, always make sure that I give the girls in my class

50 percent of my attention.





I'm required by my contract to be working on my own time summer

and evenings at my own expense toward advance certification and

a master's degree; and after school, I am to attend committee and

faculty meetings and participate in staff development training to

maintain my employment status.







I am to be a paragon of virtue larger than life, such that my very

presence will awe my students into being obedient and respectful of

authority. I am to pledge allegiance to supporting family values, a

return to the basics, and to my current administration. I am to

incorporate technology into the learning, and monitor all Web sites

while providing a personal relationship with each student. I am to

decide who might be potentially dangerous and/or liable to commit

crimes in school or who is possibly being abused, and I can be sent

to jail for not mentioning these suspicions.





I am to make sure all students pass the state and federally mandated

testing and all classes, whether or not they attend school on a regular basis or complete any of the work assigned. Plus, I am expected to make sure that all of the students with handicaps are guaranteed a free and equal education, regardless of their mental or physical handicap. I am to communicate frequently with each student's

parent by letter, phone, newsletter and grade card.



I'm to do all of this with just a piece of chalk, a computer, a few

books, a bulletin board, a 45 minute more-or-less plan time and a

big smile, all on a starting salary that qualifies my family for food

stamps in many states. Is that all?

[maggieworkman]

God bless teachers. They should be given the pay of sports star or movie star!! (And I am not just saying that because I am a teacher too. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img])

Maggie

[BabieeMelly]

I'm majoring in Elementary Education, and wow... maybe I should get out while I can [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img]

[mestitch]

AMEN SISTER!!

[RobinKay6573]

But hey...at least you get the summers off [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

No seriously, my sister and mother are both teachers so I hear you! It is like the teacher is also a parent! Is school a learning environment or DAYCARE?? [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img] to those who go into teaching. I couldn't do it! I have no patients with kids!

[graygables]

Yep, that's mostly why I left after only 3 years. You left out the parents screaming in your face b/c you had the nerve to question their parenting, and the administrator who holds your job over your head b/c you gave the basketball player the F he *earned* in your class. No thanks, and I don't blame anyone who leaves the profession.

[Cam22]

I've been teaching for 25 years and hope to make it for another 7. But I could retire in 3 with reduced benefits and there are days that make me think reduced benefits are not so bad. I do love my job, but I could live without the disrespect. BTW summer is the only way many of us can mentally keep coming back year after year. Just think about being couped up for 6 1/2 hours every day with teenagers.

[LisaJ]

I believe that SCHOOL TEACHERS, FIREMEN, POLICE AND PARAMEDICS, should all be highly qualified - AND - VERY highly paid.

Your post says it all.

I could never do it. We need to value these positions in our culture.

[mestitch]

It's funny there have been so many posts about this today... the girl next door to me at school quit, effective today! She just had enough of all the junk and being jumped on by superiors....so resigned. The principal (who was her teacher when she was in elementary school) is apparently threatening to hold her teaching license, but the girl is still quitting. She's been teaching less years than me. It's really sad...

[lauren-roxy]

Teachers have to do so much more than teach anymore. They deserve better pay and more respect, it's not an easy profession at all.

[MickeyMAC]

Melissa, we had a new teacher quit today. She said teaching was not what she thought it would be....it's all paper work, testing, discipline, etc....no real teaching. Since NCLB it is really true...we don't teach we test.

[iamgrumpy]

Thank you to those who teach! You all get my respect as I am not very patient with children often.

[Teresa]

Hey, The school nurse can check them for nice! She loves it!

[statelady01]

I'm seeing the many problems mentioned but the teachers I have trained with inspire me enough that I still want to keep going.

[Nala]

I will never understand the values of our country. Someone is paid MILLIONS of dollars because he can make great shots on the basketball court, but those who teach our youth, the future of our nation, get paid peanuts. Not only is it wrong and wacked, it's flat out sad.

I have no idea how those of you who teach do it, but I am grateful that there are those of you who do. If it wasn't for the wonderful teacher Kiara has had for the last two years, she would not have made the progress she has. We owe so much to her teacher's devotion.

I hope all of you who are in this profession will not let all the stuff you have to put up with overshadow the fact that you will make a difference in the lives of many children.