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Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record

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Re: Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record

#41

Post by cowsandmilk »

kbenson wrote: post #32
allcentury wrote: post #14

There's much more to this story. My mother, a high school calculus teacher for the last 22 years is so ready to retire. I didn't think my mom would ever retire, she spends countless hours coming up with unique lesson plans for the kids - they usually involve games, real world use cases and many ah-ha moments. She lives for those moments when a kid lights up when they understand the value of what their learning. Now t…

> Especially now that she has to post everyone's grades online, instantly emails roll in when a student didn't perform as well as the parent expected. Not to take away from your point, which I think has merit, from the other side of the spectrum as a parent that has a child that struggled mightily to not fail for the first couple years of high school, the amount that teachers screw up the online grading is incredible…

You're describing here a different problem, which I know from talking to teachers also causes them stress. The people who make the software cause this problem, not the teachers themselves. They often don't have a way to avoid this and they aren't the ones deciding what software is used.

Re: Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record

#42

Post by rayiner »

neom wrote: post #25

One of my favourite hypotheticals to play out is what would be like if we somehow paid public school teachers and emergency services/law enforcement professionals an extreme of today, a million usd a year, and increased the difficulty to attain this work. I usually end up in a pretty good place but I'd be curious what others think/why this couldn't work?

> I usually end up in a pretty good place but I'd be curious why this could not work?

It would be fantastically expensive. Chicago has 21,000 teachers. Paying them $1 million per year would cost $21 billion, dwarfing the city's current $3.8 billion budget. Even paying them $100,000 per year on average would cost half the city's budget.

And there is little reason to believe it would yield better results. American teachers are well paid compared to other OECD countries where students do better: https://www.businessinsider.com/teacher-salaries-by-country-....

Re: Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record

#43

Post by claydavisss »

neom wrote: post #25

One of my favourite hypotheticals to play out is what would be like if we somehow paid public school teachers and emergency services/law enforcement professionals an extreme of today, a million usd a year, and increased the difficulty to attain this work. I usually end up in a pretty good place but I'd be curious what others think/why this couldn't work?

Firefighters already have platinum-plated benefits 95% of people in tech can only fantasize about. Unless you are in the top tier of tech, your lifetime earnings will be much lower than a firefighter who has a pension. As a result, firefighting positions are already very difficult to obtain.

In any case, they are paid with taxes so you will have to explain to everyone in the private sector why they should become impoverished to pay people who already receive benefits unavailable in the private sector.

HN also seems to forget that teachers get three months off per year, every year.

Re: Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record

#44

Post by throwaway98121 »

gammateam wrote: post #6

Thats because teaching was the fallback plan and all the students they work with daily already realize it. Every teacher that brags about their prior dream in their specialized trade is immediately shot down by middle schoolers asking "so why are you a teacher" "Well Jimbo, as you suspect, it's because something went horribly wrong and I've rationalized my acceptance of this low wage life teaching this nation's futur…

I don’t think this is true that teaching is a fallback more than it is for any other career, and if anything, the ignorance of this post is an example of why we are in the state that we are in.

If you wanted to be a doctor, maybe you become a nurse because of some circumstance. That doesn’t mean you’re not valuable and shouldn’t be paid decently.

We don’t pay teachers just as we don’t properly find public education. At my high school in the Midwest, we invested more into football and basketball than the actual curriculum. Calculus and precalculis were not even offered.

Re: Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record

#45

Post by ecp9 »

jseliger wrote: post #10

I believe we see this article every time we have a strong economy. When the economy is strong, teaching is unappealing. When the economy is weak, many people cannot find other gigs and so flood into the relative security of teaching. Teaching may also be less pleasant in the social media and smartphone age, for reasons enumerated in The Coddling of the American Mind (a highly recommended book). There may also be a ge…

This article is one of the most stupid things I've ever read, pretending there is some crisis of students seducing their poor, persecuted male teachers because of a reddit thread is not merely intellectually dishonest, it's just bizarre.

Re: Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record

#46

Post by tomjakubowski »

klipt wrote: post #38
tomjakubowski wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any evidence other than a Reddit thread of anecdotes (about students "seducing" their teachers - ugh) that male teachers routinely have their lives ruined by false accusations of molestation? Here's some evidence on the "other side" of the issue: Chicago public schools routinely broke the law by failing to report credible accusations of molestation of students by teachers and staff. https://graphics.chica…

I think most male teachers in the US will tell you that they have to be careful never to be alone in a room with a student, and careful never to hug a crying student. Meanwhile female teachers either don't have to worry about this much, or will even be applauded for comforting a crying student by hugging them.

If we're exchanging anecdotes, I had male (and female) teachers in middle and high school (early to mid 2000s) who often spent time alone with students - including myself. Maybe things have changed.

I also would have felt weird being hugged or otherwise touched by any teacher, male or female. I don't remember seeing much of that.

Re: Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record

#47

Post by nilkn »

ineedasername wrote: post #35
allcentury wrote: post #14

There's much more to this story. My mother, a high school calculus teacher for the last 22 years is so ready to retire. I didn't think my mom would ever retire, she spends countless hours coming up with unique lesson plans for the kids - they usually involve games, real world use cases and many ah-ha moments. She lives for those moments when a kid lights up when they understand the value of what their learning. Now t…

Okay, I get that's more work, and sounds like a hassle. So this isn't a criticism of your mom. But on the A- and extra credit issue, I never understood the point of rigid grading schemes. I've taught at a college level, and I always give students the chance to improve their grades if they want to put in additional work. To do otherwise seems like saying "nope, even if you learn more and improve to the point of A-leve…

It’s more work, and that’s exactly the problem. A teacher deserves to go home and enjoy their family and life outside of work. The only way to make this possible is to have students and parents understand that after a certain point the grade is simply final, so if you want a good grade it’s your responsibility to learn the material prior to exams or large projects or assignments being due. Everyone knows this; there is no secret. So I don’t think it’s fair at all to expect the teacher to do more work for you when you didn’t put in the effort to learn the material the first time.

Re: Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record

#48

Post by jacobolus »

smaili wrote: post #9

> The departures come alongside protests this year in six states where teachers in some cases shut down schools over tight budgets, small raises and poor conditions. Even as a child myself growing up in the US education system, this was a common topic where even the students knew teachers were underpaid and education in general had a lot less money in it -- but at the same time I don't ever recall schools shutting do…

> I can't imagine what it must feel like to be a student now and being told school is closed because my teachers are protesting.

Students should feel proud that their teachers care enough to stick around and fix things instead of quitting and finding another job. I know several people who have left the teaching profession in the face of poor pay and lack of autonomy and respect, or moved out of states where teacher pay is poor.

Re: Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record

#49

Post by randomdata »

ineedasername wrote: post #35
allcentury wrote: post #14

There's much more to this story. My mother, a high school calculus teacher for the last 22 years is so ready to retire. I didn't think my mom would ever retire, she spends countless hours coming up with unique lesson plans for the kids - they usually involve games, real world use cases and many ah-ha moments. She lives for those moments when a kid lights up when they understand the value of what their learning. Now t…

Okay, I get that's more work, and sounds like a hassle. So this isn't a criticism of your mom. But on the A- and extra credit issue, I never understood the point of rigid grading schemes. I've taught at a college level, and I always give students the chance to improve their grades if they want to put in additional work. To do otherwise seems like saying "nope, even if you learn more and improve to the point of A-leve…

If we accept that the characteristics that grades are meant to represent are dynamic, what is the benefit of recording them at all? They will be perpetually out of date as people continue to learn (and forget).

Re: Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record

#50

Post by dominotw »

ineedasername wrote: post #35
allcentury wrote: post #14

There's much more to this story. My mother, a high school calculus teacher for the last 22 years is so ready to retire. I didn't think my mom would ever retire, she spends countless hours coming up with unique lesson plans for the kids - they usually involve games, real world use cases and many ah-ha moments. She lives for those moments when a kid lights up when they understand the value of what their learning. Now t…

Okay, I get that's more work, and sounds like a hassle. So this isn't a criticism of your mom. But on the A- and extra credit issue, I never understood the point of rigid grading schemes. I've taught at a college level, and I always give students the chance to improve their grades if they want to put in additional work. To do otherwise seems like saying "nope, even if you learn more and improve to the point of A-leve…

> I've taught at a college level, and I always give students the chance to improve their grades if they want to put in additional work.

Isn't it 'rigid' to give only a limited amount of time( end of yr or whatever) for that chance. Seems like saying "nope, even if you learn more and improve to the point of A-level knowledge, you're still getting a lower grade".

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