When I tell people I left teaching after 13 years
the general public is always like "Whyyyyy?"
But teachers are usually like "Take me with you!"
I wanted to keep teaching and kept telling myself it'll get better
but then the unthinkable happened.....
They blocked Youtube.
Just kidding, of course, I'm talking about COVID.
The only silver lining with covid was that it gave us a massive chance
to change the system for the better.
Teachers had value. Districts had rescue money.
Local decisions were made by schools themselves and suddenly
it looked like the tide might change, but then like every Fast And Furious movie...
it got worse.
Instead of doing a left turn towards success we went into the woods
and did donuts and tore up all the grass
and handed teachers a bag of seed and tweezers and said
"Here, you fix it."
But covid was not necessarily the breaking point for me anyways.
It was just a cog in the mighty wheel of failures that we're handing to teachers
and schools and ultimately being passed on to your kids.
So here are a few more reasons I quit.
The first reason was lack of support.
All you ever want as a teacher is to know that someone has your back.
But over the years, the support avenues we had turned into
support cul-de-sacs. Dead ends, nowhere to go.
Teaching is a very lonely profession.
And not even farmersonly.com can help.
Seriously, it's just you and the kids.
But it used to be rewarding outside of the classroom, with teachers being viewed
favorably in the community and among the general public.
Then, slowly, 9 out of 10 interactions became negative.
Admin coming to rooms to look for things to complain about,
parental phone calls placing the blame on you,
district initiatives that were entirely unrealistic,
even doing away with the teacher tax credit. You name it.
Sometimes teachers just want to feel supported in what we do.
Why is it that Chipotle giving us BOGO burritos one day a year
is the only time we feel special?
The second reason was the consistency.
The teaching profession in general is about as consistent as Enron stock.
Every year we get new employees, new systems, new tests,
new guidelines... all at a much higher cost to the taxpayer mind you.
And the training we do receive is minimal and never ongoing.
Then just when we feel like we are getting the hang of one system
Bam! Here's a new system thrown into your lap.
Imagine completing your Walmart register training and the next day
they hand you a mechanic shirt and tell you to go change oil filters.
Not knowing what to expect year after year takes the attention the teachers
should be using to focus on the students and shifts it into the stress
of learning a new system.
How can teachers show students how to learn
if we're in a constant state of trying to figure it out ourselves.
"Hey, here's the new Call of Duty game. Show this child out to play."
"Ah, it just came out, nobody knows how to play it."
"See, I told you, we should privatize gaming"
"What?"
Third reason... control.
If the districts seemed half as interested in dictating and regulating
discipline as they do my lesson plans then I might still be teaching.
Every day of instruction is mapped out, but not every class can learn on that schedule.
Throw in variables like students being taken out of class for testing,
different learning styles, oh and the 50 or so IEP's I am handed every year
and you're lucky if teachers even make it past the first day.
There are too many hands at the higher levels trying
to create jobs to micromanage teachers.
And most of these people have never seen the inside of a classroom!
You want a kid learning the curriculum of a teacher that knows the needs of the student,
or the curriculum of a failed principal that was assigned a desk job
working 10 miles from the nearest classroom.
Unfortunately it does look like there's a mass exodus of teachers
leaving the profession, and many more that want to get out.
Sad reality is many teachers stay for the health insurance
but the entire reason they need the health insurance is because
their job is causing them work-related stress injuries
and illnesses and classroom viruses.
Then there are the teachers that love to teach and wouldn't have it any other way....
In the words of Will Ferrell in "Old School,"
"You're crazy man. I love you, but you're crazy."
I personally had to step away, and enjoy being on the outside looking in
because I think of it this way,
Hey, at least the jokes I make can't get me fired anymore.