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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

#61

Post by Shivetya »

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…

in a similar vein, my aunt who is going for a few more years than your mom noted that the ratio of non teaching jobs to teaching narrowed considerably and she ended moving from a city system to a county system because of all the appointees from the mayor's office which ate up funds they could use for other needs. throw in that many of the non teaching jobs are being held in higher regard and also quick to deflect the ire of parents onto the teachers and it is hard to see the reward. he latest beef in the last decade has been the rise of "student rights" - as in you have to tip toe around some who take offense at everything with mommy and daddy riding to the rescue and the admins throwning the teacher under the bus.

Re: Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record

#62

Post by duncan-donuts »

Agathos wrote: post #21
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…

> The teachers union in Massachusetts made all the teachers sign liability waivers and arbitration waivers if a lawsuit happens. Wait what? I thought the union was supposed to at least pretend to look out for the teachers' interests.

I’ve never been in a union, but I’m sure not all unions are created equal. I wonder if unions get in a position where there’s no non-union competition they start to operate in the best interests of the union and not the interests of the people they represent. /shrug I’d love to hear more from the OP about this, fwiw.

Re: Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record

#63

Post by [deleted] »

tomjakubowski wrote: post #46
klipt wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[deleted]

Re: Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record

#64

Post by wallflower »

allcentury wrote: post #15
wallflower wrote: post #12

It is not mentioned in this particular article and my teacher friends say that dealing with parents is a constant pain. Of course, not all parents are a pain. Only a few. Teachers are not in the profession to listen to why little high school age Johnny did not get an A on his paper, not the least because you, the parent, helped him write that paper.

I just commented the same thing - parents are a major problem right now.

Hope your mother can hang in there until her well-deserved retirement, she is almost there!

Re: Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record

#65

Post by dorchadas »

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…

I'm a current teacher, and I've noticed this. I have a kid who doesn't want to do anything in class except sit on his phone. Anytime I post a poor grade, his mom emails me asking what can be done to make it higher. The kid has never once asked for himself, and, even though I've told the mother multiple times that the biggest issue is her kid being lazy, nothing changes.

Re: Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record

#66

Post by sethammons »

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…

When I was teaching, grading took so incredibly long that there would be periods of time (read: nearly always) where I was simply behind entering scores. I typically did 10 to 12 hour days plus a good 6hr day most Saturdays, and usually a few hours Sunday. I only caught up on student vacations.

Re: Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record

#67

Post by grecy »

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…

My entire family are teachers (Mum, Dad, Sister, Brother), and have all had to deal with this to varying degrees, and have had it consume their lives at various times. My brother has the best work-life balance of any teacher I have ever met, and I think his approach is brilliant.

Teaching is one of those careers where the expectation is on the teacher to endlessly do more and work harder, "For the kids", and if you keep doing it, you'll work more and harder forever, endlessly.

My brother does a fantastic job, and works very hard for his students. What he does though, is walk out at 4pm and NEVER does work at home. He doesn't check his emails, he doesn't grade work and maybe only once or twice in five years has he done a lesson plan outside 8am-4pm.

If parent emails, or meetings, or "school paperwork" or whatever queue up he just makes it infinitely clear that he must choose between doing the best job for his students, or spend time with the parents or at school meetings. He does do thing pro-actively like call parents if need-be, but he does not spend hours of his personal time dealing with "helicopter parents" or stupid school meeting requirements.

It requires the right balance of "push back", but it can work very well when done correctly.

FWIW, he has quickly been promoted to the head of maths and had a real shot at a "leading teacher" position, so obviously he's very good and the entire school-body agrees.

Re: Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record

#68

Post by tranced »

Haha, I just finished quitting my job teaching high school computer science today.

I went from private tutoring CS to teaching in an afterschool program to this because I really enjoyed helping students break through conceptual blocks and mental ones.

The work is emotionally exhausting but satisfying. Only recently have I wondered whether or not this was the right thing to do instead of going to industry(maybe it's because a lot of my interviewers have been asking me that exact question) but it seems blatant now that my friends are senior engineers who have almost infinite job opportunities.

The real crux of it is that teachers get put into this triangle of pressures between students, administration, and their parents which almost takes away all agency from the job. I got so tired of getting put into difficult situations that were almost always juggling acts.

At the end of the day, if you want to fix anything as a teacher it's almost like going against an institution. You risk your pension, your 401k, or maybe just your potential future in industry for what?

I wasn't in it for the money and I would imagine most teachers aren't either... but what happens when your hands are too tied to actually teach?

sigh maybe I could've done everyone justice if I had some tech money to fall back on.

Re: Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record

#69

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

village-idiot wrote: post #60
TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That may or may not be an accurate characterisation of the circumstances. And it’s hard to argue with working harder / smarter / longer to achieve better outcomes as an option.

Riding your kids too hard also causes burnout and rebellion

Again, that may or may not be an accurate characterisation of the circumstances.

The parent may genuinely be writing at the students request.

It’s seems reasonable there may be at least some students who genuinely want to do more work to improve their chances of being accepted in to their preferred choice at the next level.

Re: Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record

#70

Post by alistairSH »

grecy wrote: post #67
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…

My entire family are teachers (Mum, Dad, Sister, Brother), and have all had to deal with this to varying degrees, and have had it consume their lives at various times. My brother has the best work-life balance of any teacher I have ever met, and I think his approach is brilliant. Teaching is one of those careers where the expectation is on the teacher to endlessly do more and work harder, "For the kids", and if you k…

I had a teacher like that in high school. He taught AP/Honors government and had some of the highest pass rates for any teacher in the school. He stayed after school for a fixed time - 30 or 45 minutes - no longer - and most of that was spent with students. It took him FOREVER to grade tests and assignments. But, he was one of the best teachers I had in those 4 years and I, along with most of my peers, aced both exams that year (he did AP US gov in one semester and AP comparative gov in the other).
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