The Reason Why Teachers Quit (It’s Not Money)

Across the country, education is a mess and teachers are jumping ship.

It is not about the money. For most teachers, it never has been.

I know some people like to show their allegiance to teachers by lamenting the pay we receive. But truthfully, it is adequate.

We may not get paid the same as our peers with the same amount of education, but we do get more days off, not only summers but plenty of three-day weekends that the business world does not get.

I know many teachers work way past their contract. They spend their own time planning and grading. This is especially true for teachers in their first three years in the profession.

But if they are still doing it after that, they are not doing it right. They need to figure out a way to make some sacrifices in the classroom, so they are spending less of their own time on schoolwork.

Before you think I am heartless or simply not dedicated to the profession, I have been teacher for over twenty years. I still love teaching. I am not sorry for my choice of occupation and have endured the frustrations for the love of the profession.

However, I have seen so many new teachers burn themselves out by putting in all the extra hours and end up hating their job and often quitting the profession. This is not good for anybody.

So, if it is not about the money, what is it?

What do teachers really want? I think it boils down to time, resources, and respect. And, okay, maybe a little more money.

Time

This is a biggie. We need more planning time so we can grade and plan without taking work home. We need time to do the paperwork, time for training and time to make the necessary parent contacts. For most teachers, the minimum allotted plan time in our contract is not enough.

Many of us veteran teachers have found ways to do that stuff during class. But there is a sacrifice. We let kids work on a worksheet or in a group longer than we really need to so we can just finish up something we need to get done.

Education would be better if we had more time to do the things that must be done when we are not actually teaching.

Resources

Education is constantly changing. That is not necessarily a bad thing. Reevaluating what we are doing and its effectiveness is important if we want things to improve. But keeping up with the changes can be overwhelming.

Parents often feel the frustration as much as teachers. New math, outcomes-based education, no child left behind or common core. There have been so many catch phrases over the years and with the phrases are a new set of responsibilities and expectations.

Our curriculums, textbooks and resources often lag behind the expectations, and we are forced to mold what we have to the new guidelines.

This often results in hours of extra work and creations of products that have not been piloted or tested. By the time we finally get it down and feel like experts, the next thing comes along, and we have to start all over again.

Respect

This is probably one of main the reasons a lot of new teachers do not stick around.

New teachers are often officially evaluated every year. Being constantly critiqued can be intimidating and demoralizing. Those things we veteran teachers do to make sure we are not taking our work home that I mentioned above (letting kids work longer on an activity than necessary) are the very things teachers get docked for during an evaluation.

They are often told what they are doing is wrong without the advice or support of trying to fix the problem.

But that is not where most of the disrespect comes from.

Parents can be demanding and unreasonable. Parents that do not care about their kid’s education and are not involved are certainly a problem. But on the other end, helicopter parents with unreasonable expectations of the teacher can be equally frustrating.

But even that is not where the largest problem with disrespect is. Most of it is coming from the kids themselves.

More than ever in my career, I have students refusing to comply with simple requests. Put your phone away, please stay in your seat and take notes, and do not talk while I am talking are phrases that are often met with absolute hostility and refusal to comply. Emails or calls to the parent about the behavior frequently results in an equal amount of defiance.

The disrespect is disheartening but the biggest rub is the fact that student compliance and engagement is the very thing that the teacher is being evaluated on by their principal.

So, we teachers often get criticized from the student, the parent and then the principal all because a student did not follow a basic classroom rule, be respectful and do what you are supposed to do.

Being a teacher in today’s world is all about being held accountable for other people’s actions.

State legislators argue about educational topics they know nothing about, school boards pander to uninformed parents and principals must blindly enforce regulations dictated by district fat cats.

Teachers are the ill-equipped foot soldiers in battles of disrespect and ignorance.

We do it because we enjoy it but even that has its limits. These problems need to be addressed before there is nobody left to run the classrooms across this country.

Give us the time and resources we need and support us in our fight for respect and compliance. Then, maybe more of us will stick around. And, of course, a little extra money never hurts. But it is not all about the money. It is about everything else.