CNN: Why one good teacher decided to quit (article + video)

[stockholmer]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/20/why.quit.teacher/index.html?hpt=us_c1


(CNN) -- This is Linda DeRegnaucourt's last summer off. When school starts in August, it will be her last year to think about high school classes, advanced placement tests and calculus.

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"I hate to have to leave it," DeRegnaucourt said. "I really thought I was going to be that teacher, 65 years old and retiring from the education field. That's not going to happen."

She's quitting, she said, because she can't afford to stay.

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"Five years ago, 10 years ago, kids would ask me, should they become teachers? I was like, 'Oh, God, yes, I love what I do,' " she said. "Now, I tell my kids, 'You're really, really bright. Why don't you think about going into (this or that?)' They have the potential to be doctors, lawyers, nurses, CEOs and scientists . Why would I recommend to my kids, who I absolutely love, to struggle for years?"


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an aside:

The 2010 income for just the top 25 US hedge fund managers would pay for 370,000 teachers at an annual salary of $60,000 per year

[Starry Messenger]

1. k&r

[MichiganVote]

2. Yup and that's exactly what is going to happen in the US.

[dhill926]

3. dumb us down......

to better serve our masters......

[MichiganVote]

5. Health ins. up, no raises, no steps, no tenure to speak of, no seniority

Who the hell wants to spend 60K and more on an education to work with as many as 30 kids a day for 25 years of nothing?

Good luck parents! Maybe your elected officials who send their kids to private schools will give you a voucher and then you can go to a Charter school where staff is paid even less. You get what you pay for!

[CreekDog]

9. about the only fringe benefit they've added is being scapegoated for state budget problems

:eyes:

[HockeyMom]

4. Teachers are telling their own kids not to do this

One did at the school where I work. In fact, all the other teachers, and TA's, did also. The young woman loved children and animals. We told her become a Vet, and then you can have your own children someday. Take care of animals and children at the same time.

[SteveM]

6. A family of teachers...

My Dad taught for 40+ years, I taught, two of my brothers taught; even my Mom (with only a H.S. diploma) taught one half of her two-room school house. Not anymore. I wrenched cars, one brother does odd jobs, the other is a carpenter. The worst thing is a teacher has no protection: A kid accuses you of feeling-up, or claims abuse when stopped from beating a fellow student, the teacher is first fired before any further action is taken.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. One worse: I had a 9 year old tell me his mother was on the Board and he was

going to have me fired. B/c I used respect and discipline simultaneously. I think he was offended by the latter.

[SteveM]

8. Doesn't surprise me in a day filled with no surprises.