Teacher Attrition

[LWolf]

We all know how terrible public education is. We've been hearing it for decades now. It started, for me, under Ronald Reagan. I was a product of California public education, and he defeated Carter in the first election I was old enough to vote in. I didn't vote for him. During his administration, I started college, began working in public education, and began paying attention to the politics surrounding public ed. He, and several rw think tanks, pushed school prayer, pushed vouchers, and wanted to abolish the Dept. of Education, among other delightful goals.

In the beginning, the demonizing of public education was an obvious rw agenda. But...the decades rolled on. The rhetoric got louder, the attempts to privatize grew stronger and more frequent.

In the 21st century, teacher bashing and public ed bashing is business as usual for democrats and republicans, liberals and conservatives. The conversation isn't about supporting changes that would truly improve education for all. That would direct attention and resources away from other political agendas, and we can't have that. Instead, it's the blame game. The threat, punish, reward game. Oh, it has some great sounding labels that Orwell himself would be proud of: "No Child Left Behind." "The Standards and Accountability movement." "Research-based curriculum and instruction." "Adequate Yearly Progress." "Test Scores that inform instruction." They all sound good, and are all easily manipulated for political gain.

I could go on. The reality is, though, that neither voters nor politicians of either party want to redirect resources to those things that would make the biggest difference in student experience and achievement. For the corporate right, that would interfere with the privatization agenda. For the rest, I don't know. They seem to have absorbed the decades-long propaganda too well.

Everybody has a teacher to blame. Everybody has a story of one, or more, terrible teachers that shouldn't be allowed to teach. Everyone wants those damned teachers to be accountable. Everybody knows that kids hate school, that schools are bad, that teachers don't teach, that teachers are mean, that teachers make too much money, that teachers have a too-easy schedule with short days and lots of vacation. "Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!"

Is the teacher attrition rate common knowledge among the general public?

Half of incoming teachers don't last past 5 years. It's been that way for decades. What's with the high attrition rate?

Half of Teachers Quit in 5 Years
Working Conditions, Low Salaries Cited

By Lisa Lambert
Reuters
Tuesday, May 9, 2006; Page A07

<snip>

Jessica Jentis fit the profile of a typical American teacher: She was white, held a master's degree and quit 2 1/2 years after starting her career.

According to a new study from the National Education Association, a teachers union, half of new U.S. teachers are likely to quit within the first five years because of poor working conditions and low salaries.

Jentis, now a stay-at-home mother of three, says that she could not make enough money teaching in Manhattan to pay for her student loans and that dealing with the school bureaucracy was too difficult.

"The kids were wonderful to be with, but the stress of everything that went with it and the low pay did not make it hard to leave," she said. "It's sad because you see a lot of the teachers that are young and gung-ho are ready to leave."

More:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/08/AR2006050801344.html

According to the NEA:

<snip>

Trend #3: The number of teachers leaving the profession is increasing.

Working conditions and low salaries are by far the primary reasons cited by individuals who do not plan to continue teaching until retirement. Twenty percent of teachers say unsatisfactory working conditions keep them from wanting to stay in the profession.i And 37 percent who do not plan to teach until retirement blame low pay for their decision to quit teaching.i The percentages are even greater for minority teachers (50%), for male teachers (43%), and for teachers under 30 (47%).

Nationwide, more than 3.9 million teachers will be needed by 2014 because of teacher attrition, retirement and increased student enrollment.

Many new teachers leave after five years. Close to 50 percent of newcomers leave the profession during the first five years of teaching.

Teacher shortages create shortages in some subjects more than most. The greatest shortages of teachers are in bilingual and special education, mathematics, science, computer science, English as a second language and foreign languages. The teaching profession also is experiencing a shortage of male teachers.

http://www.nea.org/newsreleases/2006/nr060502.html

I'm going to suggest that teacher attrition is a larger problem than teacher accountability. Instead of bitching about the terrible teachers at your terrible schools, you might want to thank some of them for hanging in there to serve students in spite of the poor working conditions and low salaries.

Do you suppose that improving salaries and working conditions might improve the quality of instruction overall? Do you suppose that some "terrible teachers" might turn out to be better than you thought, given adequate support for the desired outcomes?

Just what are YOU willing to support to reduce the attrition rate, and to improve the working conditions for your local teachers?

Here's one post with some of my suggestions:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=219x7314#7315

What say you?

[Captain Hilts]

1. NO. It's not well known. But, for a while, Calif had the oldest average teacher age.

Younger folks just gave up on teaching in California.

[LWolf]

2. I left California 2 years ago.

During my last 4 years there, one of my colleagues just quit teaching, because her husband made enough money to live on, and she "didn't have to work." I know more that would have followed in her footsteps if they had the same luxury.

Several of the younger teachers at my school site went back to school to add another masters for a different profession; after 2 years, they'd had enough. They were young enough to "start over," since they'd barely "started."

I just moved 1,000 miles away, found a little rural district with fewer political demands and more focus on students to work for. I took a massive paycut to do so, and the NCLB winds of change are blowing. Still, it's given me a few less stressful years to enjoy teaching again.

[EVDebs]

12. The madness in education started in the '70 with Max Rafferty

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,909699,00.html

and the final nail in the coffin was Prop 13's sending all education money power into Sacramento, where the real fun begins !

[LWolf]

33. I was in elementary school in 1970.

Prop 13 took effect the year after I graduated from HS, if I recall.

Both points are well-taken, thanks.

[EVDebs]

35. Rafferty had his first test-before-graduation the yr after I graduated HS

Now the housing market has property taxes soooo high again (1.25% of sales price) that a cap will eventually have to be enacted--or an initiative put in by voters-- in order to make home owning possible again. Well over 50% of two incomes goes to mtg and insurance and taxes on the house. Very little left once the cable and phone/PG&E get paid for after that !

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. K & R - what you said!

Decent pay, better working conditions. The same things that would help a shortage in any profession.

[NC_Nurse]

7. Indeed. K&R

[LWolf]

9. Exactly.

How many teachers DON'T want to know, at the end of a school year, that their students were thriving intellectually, felt safe, respected, included, and successful, while in the classroom?

How many teachers don't want to feel that themselves?

Decent pay and better working conditions will get us there.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. I gave up on teaching after I wasn't allowed to teach

I moved from IL to TX, where teaching to the test was the norm. I wasn't allowed to adapt the curriculum to meet the needs of my students, which utter flabbergasted me. I was teaching 4th grade, though most of the kids could read at maybe a second grade level. I was required to have them read "Sounder", which was way above their reading level. When I asked if I could substitute other books, I was flatly told no--that the "experts" who made the curriculum knew far better than me, who only had 15 years' teaching experience. I was told that since the kids couldn't read the book, I was to read it to them, and somehow, magically, they would learn to read! I was told I couldn't correct spelling and grammar on written work, and that the kids were not to learn even the most basic arithmetic--these kids literally didn't know that 1 + 1=2. They did everything on calculators, but had no clue if their answers were right or even reasonable. I left in total frustration with the system. And moved to Arkansas. Where the only criteria for being hired was to know and hopefully be related to a majority of the school board.

[LWolf]

6. I know another teacher in TX who quit teaching

very early in the Bush administration. Of course, being in TX, he didn't have to wait for the state to catch up with NCLB. He'd been teaching for 20+ years when he moved to TX. He quit after 2 years. He cashed in his retirement, spent it on training for a new profession, and left teaching behind. For the very same reasons you are citing.

I hear from him every once in awhile. He's happy in his new career.

[no_hypocrisy]

14. I wasn't allowed to teach -- because I was too educated.

I had a bachelors in liberal arts (major in music, 5 languages, western civilizatioin) and a masters in elementary education.

The public schools said my salary was like $3,000 more than someone just out of college with no background in the fine arts and a minimum of educations courses and teaching experience. I couldn't compete on that basis.

I'm now a lawyer, a career where I can never be over qualified.

[LWolf]

21. That's not uncommon.

One reason why teachers, once employed by a district, tend to stay put is their position on the salary scale.

Some districts will rarely hire teachers that don't come in at the bottom of that scale. The more education, the more experience you have, the less likely you are to get a job.

[no_hypocrisy]

26. It IS ironic, isn't it?

Public policy says to hire the best, the brightest, the most dedicated until it's number-crunching time.

Even if the teachers' unions were nullified and tenure not guaranteed, my guess the public schools would still hire people who don't have intellectual prowess and curiosity (i.e., THINK), who don't love children, and don't dedicate themselves to helping each child according to his/her needs.

The only time I could get near children in a public school was when I was a substitute teacher. When I told the middle school kids that ordinarily I was an attorney, they looked at me like I had three heads and asked, "What are YOU doing HERE?!!!"

[BlooInBloo]

5. Triple teacher pay, and hold down class size to around 25....

.... Then allow the law of unintended consequences to do its thing.

[Patchuli]

8. Totally agreed

and if parents could be taught to parent instead of raising these over-entitled spoiled brats, teachers might not run away! I can't believe how much time is wasted on discipline...

[LWolf]

11. The more overcrowded the classroom is,

both space and class-size, the more discipline problems there are.

Fewer students per adult means that problems can be caught and dealt with more quickly. It also means fewer problems during one instructional period to address.

More space...when I can give students more physical space around them to stretch out, to spread out their stuff, to move without elbowing others, discipline problems drop significantly. My classroom is capped at 30 students because there is simply no more space in the little portable for another desk or chair. When there are 30 middle schoolers in that room, there is little space to walk, to reach for things, to stretch, or to shift position. Once a week I have a smaller group for an hour. 20 instead of 30. I don't have discipline problems during that hour. :shrug:

When the room is full, way too much of my time is spent policing instead of assisting.

[fooj]

42. I teach high school and my classes had an average of 36-38 kids.

English Literature! Ugh. That was fun. :crazy: NOT!!!

[LWolf]

43. Our high school classes,

and most of our middle school classes, do as well.

We got the 30 student cap only because the rooms are so small, and because attending 6th - 8th grade at this school is an alternative choice to the "regular" middle school.

This isn't a new problem, though. When my oldest son was a freshman in high school 15 years ago, his Algebra 2 class had 42 students and 30 desks. The kids were seated in alphabetical order, and the last 11 kids in the alphabet stood at the counter in the back of the room. There were 35 text books. For the first 3 weeks, those standing had no book at all. The high school finally borrowed some books from another school in the region. It was a different book. The teacher was assigning work out of the book they didn't have.

This went on for half a semester before they found more class space, more books, and another teacher. My son barely passed Algebra 2.

I taught one year back in the 90s at a multi-age school. I started the year with 47 1st - 3rd graders, and 36 desks. One teacher and portable classroom was added in November, which dropped my class down to 37 students. For the rest of the year, only one student had to sit on the floor.

Class-size reduction is crucial for all ages and grades, imo. It's most often promoted for the youngest, and I agree that small classes are important for them. Small classes are important for everyone else, too, though. If you'd had 20-25 students instead of 36-38, how would discipline and learning have been different in your class?

[SoCalDem]

54. My son (the bratty one) used to come home and tell me how MEAN

the teacher was to him, and I always sided with the teacher.

I actually got him to crack up once when I asked him if he thought that Mrs So-and-so went to college for YEARS , spent all that money, and yet dedicated her life to making HIM miserable:)

In all the years of kid complaints ( 3 boys here), only ONCE was it a "teacher" problem..every other time it was a KID problem :evilgrin:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

10. Pay is important, but holding down class size is VITAL!!! nt

[progressoid]

13. I often hear blame given to teachers and school administrators.

I rarely hear anyone blame lazy parents and/or apathetic children.

[BlooInBloo]

15. The former is to blame for the latter. I blame them and teachers in ~equal parts.

[Captain Hilts]

29. True, but taxpayers have no control over what other taxpayers do with their kids.

They do have some say in who becomes a teacher.

Or think they do.

[DarkTirade]

16. Maybe if the teachers were allowed to actually TEACH, then the kids who want to learn

would be able to, and the teachers would feel a helluva lot more useful and stick around a bit longer. Too bad the school systems don't let them nowadays...
I do bitch about the terrible problems of schools, but for the most part, I don't think the teachers are to blame. (Obviously there are a few exceptions... although if teachers were appreciated and allowed to do their jobs, I think that would weed out most of the bad ones and keep the good ones around longer.)
I think it's the system itself, and the way it hobbles both the teachers and students. If I was allowed to actually LEARN in high school, instead of being forced by law to go there every day and do nothing, I know for a fact that my life would be a helluva lot farther along then it is now. I wasted four years of my life and didn't learn a damn thing that would be useful when I went off into the world.
If the teachers were allowed to teach the things they should be teaching, colleges wouldn't have to teach basic things like english and math that the kids should have learned in high school. But they can't, because the teachers aren't allowed to tell the kids to sit down and shut up, so the kids don't. The teachers aren't allowed to give the students challenging material, because then they might complain. If the teachers were ALLOWED to do their job, most of them would. But everyone wants their child to get straight As. Everyone wants their child to be special. So now the ones who actually want to learn are held back to the pace of the ones who don't care. And the ones who don't care don't even KNOW they could be doing better most of the time, once again because the teachers aren't allowed to confront them and challenge them.
Take a look at an 8th grade math book from 50 years ago. This was before they had calculators in every backpack, and yet they were doing things that I didn't learn even in the gifted math classes I took up until 10th grade (when my school realized that they earned got more money for AP classes, and got rid of the gifted program). Listen to someone under the age of 30 speak. Most of them can hardly form a proper sentance. 12 years of school, and they never learn the difference between 'fewer' and 'less'. I was rather shocked when I was in middle school to find out that the HONORS english classes in middle school never went more in depth than Subject and Verb. Honors. Not remedial, honors.
12 years of school, and not a damn thing learned. Somehow, I doubt that it's because of a failure on the part of every teacher. I think that's a failure with the system. It's a failure with the choice of what to teach the kids. It's a failure of how to teach the kids. And every teacher is stuck there in the middle.
I have had a few teachers that I would qualify as bad teachers. In some cases, I learned in spite of them, simply because I wanted to learn. In others, I caught up on the sleep I lost because I had to wake up far too early to go to school. (I had one first period french teacher who wouldn't let me sleep in class, despite the fact that I kept an A- to B+ average the entire semester, all the while being lazy and only doing about half of my homework assignments. That's pretty damn impressive right there. So I tortured myself by staying awake and pretending to listen to the teacher read directly from the textbook, while I worked on my drawing skills. Still can't draw worth crap, but at least I got something done.)
I have also had good teachers. They managed to teach in spite of the standardized tests and lack of teaching material. They were few and far between. Then there were the rest. The ones who never got a chance to find out if they were good teachers or not, because they were never really given a chance to teach. They were given textbooks full of the same material the kids learned the year before, and a standardized test to give them at the end of the year.
I can't even imagine how many kids would learn, if only they knew that they could. I had a bit of an advantage there, I learned to read at a young age and my parents never let me rot my brain in front of the TV. So by the time I got to school, I already had a head full of useless facts, and a desire to add to that collection. But not everyone has that head start. Most kids don't know how to learn, and teachers aren't allowed to tell them to sit down and shut up long enough to do it. And they aren't given the material to teach them anything new, other than some basic benchmarks. Multiplication in third grade. Essay writing, algebrae and geometry in high school. Anybody notice a big gap in there? Good, making sure it's not just me.
School is not an institution of learning anymore, it's just a place to put the kids so that they're out of the way long enough for the adults to go to work without having to worry about them. Which means that when the kids reach that magical age of 18, they are not going to be prepared for the world. College campuses have to teach the kids the barest of basics all over again. Most college students still go home and show their report cards to mommy and daddy, because they never really graduated from high school. Sure, they spent four years there and got a diploma and a funny hat, but they're still teenagers when they go off to college. Not adults.
Looking back, I can only think of two classes that ever actually CHALLENGED me. And I had to seek out these classes. Neither one has a damn thing to do with anything I ever wanted to do with my life, but I took them because I knew I would go insane if I didn't do something. And I don't think either one of the teachers of those classes were particularly great teachers, they just had a curriculum that was something new. Something that the kids hadn't been over and over once a year for the last 8 or 9 years. Something to actually teach. And because it was a class that had to be sought out, those classes also had kids that actually wanted to learn. For once I could sit in the back of the class and just listen and learn. I did horribly in those classes, my grades were in the toilet. I even had to retake one of them. But at least I was learning something.
Oh, and for god's sake, pay the teachers enough so that they don't have to leave and find a higher-paying job... I lost a good english teacher that way. She didn't just get a promotion, she HAD to get a promotion to keep food on her table and a roof over her head. I don't remember the exact details, but I think her husband had gotten sick or injured and was unable to work for a while. Odd that I can remember the incident when she tripped and almost fell on me while disembarking a bus on a field trip in perfect detail, yet I can't remember why exactly why she left. Ah, the human brain. How very tricky. Futz, that just reminded me that I left the book I was going to borrow from my brother at his house.
Sorry, off topic, but it was a book about the human brain. :) Research for a rather mad-scientist type project that I'm thinking about trying.
See, even now I'm still trying to learn. Trying to make up for the four years in high school that I wasted... not learning... and not by choice.
Oddly enough, that very same brother I just mentioned used to teach computer science... but he had a family to provide for, and so he couldn't just sit there and earn crap money while the kids he was teaching used what he taught them to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. He loves teaching, and he's good at it. But he can't afford to when he's got a family to support. Stop spending government money on Halliburton contracts, and start paying it to the people who watch our kids five days a week.

Oh, and Mr. G, if you're out there... At the time I didn't want to look like a geek in front of the whole class by correcting you... but Pharoh Akhenaton's name is not pronounced 'Ah-Ken-Ah-Tawn', it's Ak-en-Aton. Servant of Aton. It shouldn't be too hard to at least pick out the last part of his name. Aton was the sun god he used to supplant the old polytheistic religion. Ak-en-Aton. I've always been into ancient egypt, so every time you said that name it just grated on my nerves. It's not hard to pronounce. :)

Anyhow... I've rambled on far too long (25 hours without sleep... long day.), so I'll try to sum up as best I can.
First off... obviously, pay them enough so that they can afford to stay. Especially when dealing with fields that tend to earn more money. Anyone who is teaching computer science in public school could be making ten times that much out in the job market.
Second of all, let them actually teach. No more spending an entire year to repeat what the students already learned. Teach. Review a little ahead of time, sure. But then teach something new.
Third of all, give them the things they need to be ABLE to teach. Textbooks that take the time to explain, but don't coddle. Curriculums that don't repeat year after year. And give them the power to run their own classroom. Nowadays if a teacher sneezes on a kid, they can get suspended or fired. Teachers need to be able to control their classroom. I'm not suggesting reverting to the time when it was okay for a teacher to smack kids with rulers, but SOMETHING has to be done to let the teachers run things properly. They have no power, no respect, and no way to get it unless something changes.

[LWolf]

20. I enjoyed your ramble.

I can relate to your experiences.

Your ramble, funnily enough, reminded me of one of my students. I adore him. He's funny, he's creative, he's empathetic, he's polite....and he knows how to ramble. He's famous for it. He would love what you've just written.

Now I'm reminded that I have something to look forward to in September!

[DarkTirade]

27. I do tend to ramble, although in this case I think the 25 hours I spent awake

helped a bit. :)

[Danger Mouse]

17. NCLU - No child left untested.

I fear for the current generation of children, taught to take tests, but not taught anything of real value...
sigh...

[EFerrari]

18. In grammar school, I had the best teachers in the world.

Our school district was a selling point for people shopping for housing. It pains me to think what's going on there now.

I'm thinking of going back to teaching. It feels like entering a combat zone. I sincerely don't know how you all have managed. :(

[proud patriot]

19. You'll get no argument from me

:hi:

[treestar]

22. Teachers are scapegoated almost as much as lawyers

I know, I'm a lawyer and every other female in my family is a teacher?

Junior gets a C (average, just what he should be doing) and it's a tragedy, and the teacher's fault!

Junior is a genius, I tell you! He should get straight A's without effort!

[LWolf]

23. That's familiar, unfortunately.

Grades, for some people, are what the school owes you, not what you earned.

:(

[Godhumor]

24. I just finished my 6th year teaching; I will not be going back for a 7th

To make this story very short, I worked in 2 states, overseas, and the District of Columbia--I loved the kids but hated the politics. Salary, of course, also played a big role in my decision.

[JCMach1]

25. The one BIG PERK which kept your sanity was Summers off

Schools over the past 15 years have continuously shrunk this vacation down and offered no compensation to replace it...

That's a recipe for burn out...



Also, operating schools on the behaviorist model of discipline has turned schools into prisons... We need something different, but have no chance of getting there. Look at the dropout rate for prison guards and compare it to teachers. I guarantee it would be similar.

I went back to teaching at the University level...

[LWolf]

31. Love the kids, hate the politics, and the salary just doesn't cut it.

Sounds like my professional life in a nutshell.

I hope your next professional venture is rewarding.

[last_texas_dem]

28. K and R. Thank you for another informative post. nt

[Dinger]

30. Excellent Post LWolf

Thank you, from a teacher.:)

[LWolf]

32. You are welcome.

:hi:

[mdelaguna2000]

34. I wonder what % have their own kids and quit?

Have met a number of stay-at-home-moms who used to teach. Would be interesting to know, and also, to what degree majoring in education attracts students who don't have clear-cut long term career plans.

On the other hand, in our area, highly qualified teachers have a hard time finding jobs - seems a flooded market - people with master's are teaching in preschools while taking years applying to the local schools. Great for the preschoolers who get such teachers, but hardly the salary they qualify for.

[bleedingheart]

38. The majority of teachers in my area are women who have children

if anything it is a great career for women who have kids...and for men as well...lots of teaching fathers are the ones running the baseball camps and shuttling their own kids around during the summer.

I met far more women in my engineering classes who got a degree and then never worked after the first child was born because their companies did not have flex time or the jobs they had were too stressful for raising kids and working...(travel is a big issue).

[bleedingheart]

36. Our Nation does not Respect education...it's all about the quick buck

as a result you have parents who do not respect education and who pass that lovely trait on to their young...

my eldest is attending a federally sponsored program for math...do you realize how many parents turned down this service because they didn't want to "ruin their kid's summer"...so next year when their kid is struggling in math...they will bitch and moan at the teacher...meanwhile the district ran a class for three hours a day for four days of the week and the program ran for only 3 weeks...but you see...they couldn't ruin junior's summer...

[LWolf]

45. Our culture IS distinctly "anti-intellectual."

Too many of my parents actually tell their kids that they should expect to hate school, learning, reading, but that they have to take their medicine anyway.

Thinking, reading, learning...it's all an unpleasant chore to get out of the way so that you can get back to your "real" life.

Trying to instill a passion for any of the above, to grow life-long learners, is an uphill climb with many, to say the least.

[RobofSWVA]

37. It's absurd that we blame teachers.

More often than not it's the student's lack of effort that is causing the problem. Next I would suggest looking to the parents and seeing what sort of home life is being provided. We've been blaming teachers for far too long because they are easy targets. While there are poor educators out there, I say falling education standards are by and large the result of spoiled and unmotivated students and bad parenting. We need to stop looking for the easy fix and put blame where it is due.

[raccoon]

39. Five years ago, a woman told me there was a conspiracy to destroy the

public schools. I thought she must be slightly cuckoo. I don't think so any more.

[aikoaiko]

40. As a teacher, what would you do differently if you were paid 20K more?

[Sabriel]

41. I wouldn't have gotten a second job to pay off loans

I would've used that time to plan for the fall or put the money toward getting my Master's sooner.

[LWolf]

44. I'd repay the retirement I cashed in

to pay the bills while I did my student teaching, for a start.

Then I'd look at replacing my run-down old manufactured home with a stick-built house.

I'd finish both my Masters' degrees.

Do you mean, what would I do differently in my classroom?

I wouldn't put in more hours. I already do about 10 hours a day plus some weekend hours.

I spend time every year evaluating what is working, what isn't, and making changes where indicated. I'd still be doing that.

Major changes in classroom practice would require a reduction in class size and permission and $$$ from admins/district/state for things like infrastructure, additional resources, flexible scheduling, etc..

[Reader Rabbit]

46. I'd pay off my student loans.

Only the Perkins got forgiven for teaching in a low income school, and of course it was the smallest loan and had the lowest interest rate. *sigh*

[rucky]

52. Obviously, those who are in the field aren't in it for the money.

But if I had a dime for every smart, talented person I know who said "I'd like to teach, but the pay stinks," I could afford to teach at the current pay scale.

Pay's not the only factor. Seems that teachers are short changed on everything that attracts them to the profession: a chance to help is mired in paperwork. curriculum is dictated and politically motivated. liability concerns to ridiculous proportions put more pressure to control control control. drill and kill for state assessments. "higher" standards for teachers that really mean just more bullshit paperwork and useless PDs.

Any one of those would be tolerable on their own, but the low pay just makes it easier to leave the profession.

I might have stayed.

[LWolf]

53. You describe it well.

I can tell that you've been there.

[ulysses]

55. stop going into debt. n/t

[degreesofgray]

47. I love teaching

I love my students, and I've received awards for my teaching, but I'll probably find something else. I am an unsalaried community college instructor, which means I'm an exploited, overworked, underpaid vassal of the state of Washington, called a "part-time" (ha!) instructor by my employers (I teach for two colleges to make ends meet--I've met a few instructors who teach at three) who appear to have no interest in changing the status quo, which is pay as many part-timers as little as possible so you don't have to hire them on a full-time basis (this is a growing trend in four-year universities as well).

I don't want to teach in the public schools (I'd have to go back to college anyway, in order to certify) and I don't want to wait forever for a job, so I feel myself being driven out. As much as I love my job, and as much as I hate to say it, leaving teaching will be the best decision I can make for myself.

[LWolf]

48. Love of students, love of learning, love of teaching

is what brings us to the profession.

Poor salary, poor working conditions, and political/bureaucratic control, manipulation and dysfunction is what drives many away.

I've known some of those "part time" college instructors. Manipulation of part time employees is a standard budgeting tool. :grr:

[jazzjunkysue]

49. Public school teacher here: We all share the blame: Teachers, govt, and parents.

23 years experience and I love it. But I didn't go into it for the $$ or the job quality, I just don't expect better.

But the "problem" with school is all three:
1. Government is over controlling, and ruining "education." Basically, with NCLB and test scores in the papers, education only really happens in towns where the gene pool provides smart enough students so that they can do well on the test and the teachers can get beyond the test and educate.

2. Parents are still looking for the lottery: I'll pay taxes and you'll raise my kids for me and spit out a perfect college prospect in 12 years. Just don't make me get involved.

3. Most teachers are awesome, but a few do phone it in. Merit pay is not the answer. It does help when parents are high profile and administrators are there to set high expectations for teachers. I've seen teachers improve with better administrators. The thing is, when money is tight, the first thing cut is staff development. Now, all of you out there in the real world get regular staff dev in your jobs. But teachers are told to "take care of these kids and we'll let you out at 3." And they get little contact between each other and none between schools. Isolation helps cement weak teaching and the only antidote is time and $$ for staff development.

[LWolf]

50. Good points. n/t

[rucky]

51. I earned a Masters, then left teaching after 6 months.

Not by choice, as I was laid-off from a charter school as a cost-cutting measure.

Pretty soured by the whole experience and switched careers again. Now all I have are my memories and my student loans.