A close friend of mine, a teacher, has decided to leave the teaching profession after about seven years of teaching. Nani is a good teacher as far as I can tell. No, I’m not in her classroom daily (though I did observe her on a visit to New York once). Nani cares about learning. She cares about education. She’s the kind of teacher who gets (or used to) excited about pedagogy and teacher talk. She loves (or loved) to plan lessons and try new things. And yet, she has now become one of the statistics that plague our teaching world. (see below)
As a third year teacher it makes me sad to see young, vibrant, and dedicated teachers leaving. On some level I wonder what I would do if I discovered teaching was no longer for me. I am not a huge lover of pedagogy. I’m not a literati by any means. But, I am a person who enjoys working with teens. Sure, they are a tough group. Sure they can wear me down to the Nth degree. But, regardless of all that, I know I make a difference in many of their lives.
Daily I see students smoking pot outside my classroom. Daily I hear language that is atrocious, daily I have more than one student snoozing in class, daily I have to ask EVERY class to shoosh over…and over…and over… Daily students don’t do their work, talk back, fuss, fidget….BUT…daily I also get to see the faces of over 100 young minds who, even when they don’t want me to know it, want to learn. They want discipline. They want more for their lives. Every day I do get to see a glimpse of all that is possible. And it really IS worth it.
I hope other new(ish) teachers can find all that is good in education even on those days, weeks, even months that seem impossible and defeating.
From the US Department of Education’s website:
“According to a recently reported statistic, more than half the new teachers in Los Angeles, California, give up their profession within 3 years, at a cost of $15 million a year. A 1996 study in North Carolina found that 17 percent of the state’s teachers leave the profession after the first year in the classroom, 30 percent by the end of 3 years and 36 percent by 5 years.
Nationally, 22 percent of all new teachers leave the profession in the first 3 years because of lack of support and a “sink or swim” approach to induction.”
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I’m glad you brought up this issue. After teaching middle school for 3 years and then high school for 7 years, I too felt completely burnt out. I had no more energy left to deal with disciplinary problems, overcrowded classrooms, and apathetic students and parents. I considered leaving teaching entirely, but… I’m a good teacher. I know I am. And I felt that I could still do a lot of good. So instead of quitting entirely, I decided to make a change. This week I will begin my new career as a preschool special ed teacher. The challenges of this new job will be different, and I feel energized and excited about trying something new.
It’s too bad that we have to lose good teachers like your friend Nani. Perhaps if we made it easier for teachers to transfer to other settings, then we could retain their talents for longer.
I have sooo much to say on this topic! One of my good friends is leaving teaching after 5 years. She is the BEST teacher–full of energy and her kids are learning, but there are so many problems with the education system and she has gotten so very discouraged. Thank you for addressing this topic, I’m going to talk about it on my blog, too.
If all my teachers had quit teaching, I w/b ignorant.
Wait, I can be ignorant notwithstanding.
I think Nani needs to do what makes her happy.
The more attention this problem gets, the better. I see that many people my ages refuse to start teaching, and the ones already in the field have serious doubts whether this is something they want to do until they retire (including me, I must admit).
http://www.flascience.org/wp/?p=380
Several sources are reporting that twelve school districts in Florida have passed resolutions against the teaching of evolution. Out of all the arguments, however, one administrator seems to have gotten it right:
“Then, the final speaker, Lisa Dizengoff, director of science curriculum at Pembroke Pines Charter School’s east campus, angrily reminded the crowd that after all the carping over evolution, no one had gotten around to addressing the state’s lackadaisical, last-century approach to science education. ‘All I heard was this argument about evolution,’ she said, disgusted that so many other problems had been preempted by a single controversy. ‘The kids lost out again.””
I am in my first year and I am sinking. I have no support either. I knew that this could not have been my problem only. I have been so tempted on so many occasions to just walk off and leave. I really feel like I don’t know if I am going to retire from teaching. It is so stressful.
So what are all these teachers now doing? What professions have they moved into? I too am looking to leave the profession….any ideas?
I taught high school English for 7 years, and I too am leaving the profession this year. Although, like Nani, I love being a teacher, I feel I am no longer teaching in today’s society. There is serious lack of support from parents and administrators in most schools, that teaching is more like glorified “babysitting”. The schools that are more supportive rarely have openings, and it is just becoming too difficult to support myself and keep my sanity, that I opted to leave the profession.
I am very scared about what the future holds for me in corporate America. I am very intelligent and capable, but I often wonder how it looks to switch professions.
I support and give much credit to those continuing to teach. You are great people, and I wish you the best of luck in the future!