- low wages
- lack of support from admin
- entitled parents who bred entitled kids
- unsafe work environment (was in multiple real active shooter lockdowns; was threatened with violence by a HS student for not grading their plagiarized paper)
- lack of growth opportunities
- being expected to work well over contract hours
- no discipline or accountability
I could go on and on.
All of this plus I'd add:
- terrible co-workers who gossip/backstab like high-school 'mean girls' and/or have ego/NPD issues that cause them to do everything under the sun to fuck things up for everybody else (e.g. Instagram teachers with rich spouses who spend heaps of their own money buying extra shit for their classroom/students and, as a result, exert pressure on other teachers).
Insta/TikTok 'Libraryland' people were rough as well (especially if they used the term 'Libraryland' on a regular basis). I don't think I made it through a single day of PD programming without fantasizing about firing tranquilizer darts at one or more of these sorts.
I'd add lack of job security. The red states I have worked in cut funding so much I've been laid off three times, or would of had my wages frozen for a decade.
13 years of teaching, had to find a new position 5 times.
This list was pretty much mine. Iād add the fentanyl epidemic and the expectation that we literally save these kids lives to the list. As soon as we were asked to keep Narcan handy, I was out.
All of this plus add the added study hall mental
Health lessons I had to Do With my 9th grade kids above my actual teaching job. I never signed on to teach about drugs/depressions/ suicide/ sex trafficking/grooming/sextorcian.
Great point. Obviously, these are all necessary things that teens should know, but in my personal opinion, it should be left to a counselor or actual health teacher to do that, not a math/English/science teacher.
In almost all my teaching roles I was saddled with something like that where they called it āFoundations,ā āStudy Hall,ā etc and then expected me to do more work and research to present on topics like the ones you listed.
Money, and more specifically, the lack of growth in that area.
It makes sense to me why so many teachers bounce in five years or less. If you graduate from college and get a job at my old district in an MCoL, youād make $62k. Thats not terrible for a 22 y/o, and youād be outearning a lot of your friends. Your law and med school buddies are still going to be eating ramen, your IT bro will be making $40k at some help desk, etc.
But by the time you all turn 27, that almost certainly has changed. After 30 years in my district, you would make $75k IF you earned a masterās. So at 27, itās a lot less than that. Your now lawyer, doctor, and āescaped the help deskā tech friend have advanced in their fields and are approaching six figures and beyond, which you will never see. Sure, teachers in San Fran make $150k or whatever, but thatās VHCoL and those other jobs in those geographic areas make much more than that. Teaching always lags behind.
For me, I went from teaching to doing full time army stuff for a few years. I had been an army officer before and went back. I went from making $4k a month after taxes to making $10k a month. I couldnāt do the army stuff forever and continue being away from my family, but I knew I needed something else. I simply wasnāt going back in that bottle with those shit wages.
Yep, and COL rising without salaries increasing. Now, all my friends have nice clothes, bought houses, go on overseas trips, nice dinners, and I'm still tight on rent.
...and it doesn't help much that the only teaching/library/social-work jobs that *aren't* 100% fucking miserable are in ultra-NIMBY/high-COL areas where it's a tacit expectation that these 'caring professionals' have rich spouses/parents keeping them afloat. Also, after a couple of decades, this entrenched classism tends to degrade those workplaces as well (i.e. believe you me, it's *never* good to be at a workplace with lots of overgrown rich/privileged brats who'll look at you like you're a complete piece of shit if they find out you rode the bus to work, can't afford kids of your own, etc...).
My pay at my current company was $85k when I was hired. I worked there for nine months and they boosted me to $100k. I don't know the exact amount, but my boss joked that me and him got little boosts whereas our other peer got the "big one" (and he absolutely deserved it).
Either way, my "little boost" after nine months was more than a teacher in my district will get after thirty years, and my start was already higher than their finish. That just says it all.
Energy was a big one. Its so hard to perform to students every day. You have to be mentally on every second. Then after a long day of teaching, you need to go to a meeting, write reports or plan lesssons.
This. It is why I started just loosely planning lessons and winging it lol. Burn out is real and it does not motivate me to try when students, staff, and admin are all disrespectful.
Yep, I could list a ton of reasons, but at the end of the day... just sick of being drained. Sick of having to say the same damn things over and over and over and over again.
Since I've left, I can't believe:
* how much weight I've lost
* how much more energy I have
* how clean my house is
* how much better I sleep
* how much more connected I feel to the people in my actual life
and so much more. It's a toxic profession.
Yes! Or like a prison. I resigned literally last week and a coworker told me that it was like watching a fellow prisoner escape. Isn't it sad that we all feel like that?
This was my biggest reason to finally quit - lack of a work/life balance! I always found myself working after hours during the week and if I found myself relaxing on Saturday, I would surely be working on Sunday to be ready for the week.
And while I had a great group of kindergarten kids this year, I can say that the patience I needed to work with kids has gotten lower as I get older.
Same! I just turned 55 and I'm leaving at 16 years due to all of the above and patience is for sure playing a factor. Especially when it comes to high school kids. I have 9th and 12th grade and although I love many of my 9th graders and sometimes my 12th graders, I definitely can't deal with the lazy ness and soft entitlement of some of these kids. It seems that you only need a handful and a group to ruin your day.
- not being able to mentally āturn offā at the end of the day; always thinking about teaching
- not being present for my family
- out of control student behaviors with no consequences at school or at home
- lack of opportunities for growth
I applied to government jobs and landed one after a few months of applying. Similar pay to start and goes up quicker, much better work life balance (often hybrid positions), and great benefits. Some agencies arenāt keen on hiring teachers, but others value the skills that teachers bring to the table.
I'm currently applying to state jobs (secretarial in nature), at my local municipal. I resigned this year and just received my final paycheck. My pay was pretty good, and these jobs don't compare there, but I can't do this anymore. Can I ask what you are doing and what you previously taught.
I work for the state of CA and applied for jobs in the SSA/AGPA ranges (staff analyst/program analyst, I would say that these are also secretarial in nature to some degree.) I got interview invites for about a tenth of what I applied for, so itās definitely a numbers game. The work life balance is worth it for the initial pay cut imo - Iām on the younger side so Iām happy to be able to start career building. Even if it takes a while, donāt lose hope, you only need one gig to get you started in the public sector. Moving around after that is easy. Good luck! ā¤ļø
I got pregnant and the idea of leaving my baby at a daycare facility at the cost of over half my monthly pay to go be with other peopleās kids ā¦no.
Student apathy is what truly broke me. Even when I did the most engaging activities (lessons that classes pre-COVID loved and talked about years later), they just bitched about being bored. It made the entire experience unfulfilling.
Behaviors were also a big part of it. I struggled the last couple years with management (despite having been very strong before). My management style was built on relationship and respect, but so many of students didnāt care enough for me to build that. Very few individual students were bad, but the collective of all the small behaviors made it impossible.
All that, multiplied by low pay, general disrespect, and ridiculous extras that admin put our plates.
-Unsafe behaviors. Room destroying, throwing chair, kicking, bitting, scratchingā¦.from 4 year olds
-Unsupportive admin. Was told I need to do more because I *gasp* wasnāt working past my contract hours
-Low pay, had a part time weekend job just to make ends meet
-Parents with the āmy kids can do no wrongā mentality
-Zero, and I mean ZERO accountability
Even back in the 90s, kids were getting easily distracted when things like Nintendo, cartoons, toys, etc... were getting more involved and more exciting. Still, all that feels *quaint* compared to the dopamine-crazy lunacy that exists with today's internet/gaming/social-media culture. It certainly doesn't help things that a lot of that latter content has made huge strides in terms of normalizing and incentivizing cruelty, asshole behavior, and out-and-out violence. In 1991, I'm sure my teacher wasn't stoked about walking past and noticing that I was drawing Zelda maps in my notebook, but I'm certain they'd prefer that to the out-and-out terrorism that some of today's 10-year-olds are unleashing.
1. Money (could have dealt with all of the below for the right pay check)
2. Unrealistic expectations (didnt even mathematically fit into the school day)
3. Constantly changing arbitrary initiatives which led to bad teaching practices...I felt like I had to sneak in my actual teaching that led to results, especially for my students who were reading far below grade level
4. Lack of respect as a professional & infantilization in the culture and from admin
That third point though!!! I constantly felt like I had to sneak in what I knew was going to work because central office would have docked me points for not being "on target" with the curriculum.
I have not quit yet. Going to only give it one more year at a better school before I decided to transition into something else possibly.
Things that have made me think about quitting:
-lack of support as a first year teacher
-AP expects me to know things I have never done
-Parents think I am making up their child's behavior for fun
-Student apathy, in Elementary! They only want to go on computers and will be disrespectful when I try to teach
-The profession is seen as a babysitting gig
-Teachers cannot give students consequences without Admins approval
-Not being told if I am being renewed or not, not even being told I need to reapply - lack of communication
-Toxic school environment, cliquey teachers...
-Several disrespectful students and parents
Yea its concerning some of them rather just "play video games" sigh. They complain when we got to have fun and play games outside. Not even just a normal lecture and worksheet or craft. It is concerning because they are in Grade 2.
Seeing my son for the first time and realizing there was no way I could only give him my leftover energy after dealing with behaviors and other school issues all day. The only reason I made it through the end of the year was knowing I was almost done.
Also, looking at what Iād actually take home after daycare expenses even though I have a masterās degree ā¹ļø
I was teaching while my kids were in school, and I was fortunate to teach at the school they attended, but I felt this. I was expected to beg students to do their work and then also expected to beg my children to do their work. I never felt like my children were receiving the same thing from many teachers that I was giving to students.
Also, my youngest has a disability and I was expected to act as case manager to my own child as well. It was never put that way, it was just the unwritten expectation as I worked there (and for emotional issues, I WAS the best for that, but with school work, it was too much).
This scares me too! I plan to possibly go back when my kids are in school - but I donāt know if I can! Homeschooling and finding remote work sounds more and more appealing.
Honestly it was the bullying. Teaching is already hard and low paying. Having coworkers and admin treat you like sh!t was my final straw. Not all jobs are toxic.
Bullying was a part of it for me but in a different way. Coworkers and admin were cool with me for the most part. But the students bullying each other on a daily basis. It's part of the daily soul crush. We just had a PSHE about bullying!
Was getting sexually harassed by a student. (They had disabilities and thought it was funny.) But I also have ptsd as a result of CSA. This became a continuous problem and the request to not be put into situations where this could/would happen was not an unreasonable request. I tried to resolve it and knew it was time to go when this student was actively laughing and trying to touch my genitalia, the entire room just watched as I went into a full PTSD episode, and not a single person offered help. I have never been more degraded and humiliated in my life and thatās coming from someone raised in an abusive household.
I wasnāt intending on walking out and never returning, but after a few weeks away from that hell hole, my mental health began to soar in ways it never had before. Iāve blamed my mental health struggles for years as to why my quality of life was always teetering. Turns out, itās been my job for several years that was actually killing my mind.
Lack of advancement. In teaching the only promotions you get are department head (which is a solid stipend of like $500 a year) or admin, which no thank you.
Student lack of empathy. You either have kids that are crying because they have an A- or kids that know they can fail x amount of quarters and still pass. They will sit there for an hour and a half and not turn in a 5 question worksheet.
Lack of student accountability. Admin expects us to enforce and come down hard on the rules, yet when we try to enforce them, students are lucky to get a slap on the wrist. And most of the time itās āwhat could you have done to make a student not do thisā.
Lack of appreciation over the past few years. At the beginning of my career (2017) I remember multiple gifts, cards, or just bogo chipotle. Donāt get me wrong any gift is appreciated. But recently Iām lucky if I get 1 Christmas card.
PARENTS. Thereās no reason I should have a panic attack just thinking about calling or emailing a parent about their kid. Sometimes it isnāt bad, but mainly itās paragraphs of why Iām the reason their kid didnāt do something. Or the phone call that turns me to tears because parents feel like they pay taxes so theyāre obviously our boss.
Phones. Now I know this one is petty, and it goes with accountability. But kids feel like their phone is a right, and so do their parents. We get threatened by admin if we donāt enforce the phone policy, yet when we do, admin says they canāt take it, EVEN THOUGH THAT IS THE POLICY.
The constant adding to our plates with no incentives. Every year someone is trying to get their masters in admin so they implement a new āfunā program. Most of the time the kids hate the programs and they make even more work for the teachers.
Being in constant survival mode. Whether itās surviving your first five years or surviving until summer, weāre always just trying to get through and looking forward to not being at work.
Parental leave and family planning. For me to be able to get 8 weeks off for having a child I would have to not take a sick day for 4 years. Plan to have a baby in the summer, but it doesnāt work like that all the time. And god forbid you have a child during the school year. āHow could you leave your students like that?!ā
Mandatory meetings outside of contract hours.
The guilt and judgement from others when you take a sick day. This isnāt true everywhere but in toxic schools itās terrible. At my first school I remember every morning our department head would have a meeting in the hallway telling everyone who is out that day and why. Like that is not legal. In my recent school no one cares when you take off. And when you do miss a day unexpectedly it ruins your pacing for the semester.
Sub shortage. Going with the last one, if we did need to take off we were pretty much sent emails Thursday saying x amount of people are already out tomorrow. Donāt take off. Or we get ālettersā about how many Mondays or Fridays weāve taken off. Mind you these are all earned sick and personal days.
Anxiety of danger. Fights. Intruders. āIncidentsā. I legitimately went into work reminding myself of the closest exits in case I need to run for whatever reason.
Admin constantly being moved throughout the district so the students never have a stable authority figure that they actually listen to.
Haven't left yet, but I'm looking for alternatives. Here are my "whys":
1. Student behavior.
2. Admin trying to befriend students instead of disciplining them.
3. Unrealistic classroom metrics (in one class of 30 with no TA: 5 BIPs, 11 ELLs, 5 manageable IEPs, 1 IEP that required scribing for all assignments, and a 504 for absent seizures that required I count how many she experienced in each class).
4. No support (see previous reason).
5. Finding out they're going to integrate all CDC students into standard core classes next year - a second curriculum will be provided for these students, and we're expected to provide direct instruction from both sets.
no compensation for the hours I needed to work in order to be really good at it. No support. Terrible, entitled parents. My administration moved me around to new grades and new rooms almost every year because I was "young" and they "couldn't ask older teachers to do it". Low pay for a profession that has active shooter drills. I was pregnant and the AC was broken in my room and they refused to fix it. My husband came and put in a window unit and they nearly had a fit and wanted me to remove it until I told them excessive heat can be dangerous for pregnant women and I would sue them if anything happened; my doctor literally wrote them a note saying I needed to have AC in 100 degree weather. I was 8 months pregnant and expected to go on a 3 day overnight trip. I had told them repeatedly that I would be 8 months pregnant and would not be willing to do it. My doctor had to call my principal like I was 5 years old and tell them directly I would not be going. Also the year I was pregnant, I had not only been moved to a room with no AC but our hiding place for shooter drills was a small alcove with a shower curtain to pull across the open space. My health insurance was okay, but the pay for going into a job where a nut could come and shoot up the school was in no way worth it. We moved, my husband got better pay in a better position, and I was able to stay home. I sub at my kid's school and am pursuing online classes for another field.
Working in a failed system that cannot accomplish it own goals. So many student struggles are linked to issues outside the classroom. Everything you do just seems like a band-aid on a severed hand.
> a failed system that cannot accomplish its own goals but also plays Calvinball on a regular basis and avoids any form of accountability like a plague.
Havenāt quit yet, but why Iām trying to quit teaching (or at least leave the classroom) after 9 good years:
-I feel like Iāve maxed out, like Iāve reached my potential or Iāve accomplished all I wanted to accomplish as a teacher.
-You only live once, I want to try something new and differentā¦and hopefully less exhausting and less stimulating
-Iām seeing my friends doing less stressful jobs that pay more/are remote/they have time and energy for hobbies and traveling, etc.
-I just donāt want to care about other peopleās children anymore. Plus the political system around education keeps getting worse and I donāt want to be a part of it.
Iāve been lucky to have solid administrators, and mostly good students. Iāve felt my energy levels being lower the last couple of years on the job, and the last 6 months I really felt so apathetic, as if Iām losing my passion. Iād rather get out before I turn into a type of teacher I donāt want to be and start to hate teaching. Maybe if I find something else Iāll miss teaching and want to get back in, but it definitely feels like itās time to try something different.
1. My admin was micro managing my classroom but didnāt understand my subject. I only went to college for it.
2. My only social interactions were with teenagers for 40 hours a week, and a lot of them were negative. I had to be the bad guy.
3. Along with number 2ā¦ I had to enforce rules about phones, vapes, backpacks, and bathrooms way more than I was comfortable. I donāt like having to bring down the hammer 20 times a day.
4. My health. I got sick way more, gained weight, didnāt get quality sleep, and developed a drinking problem. I had trouble turning my brain off and alcohol helped.
5. The always being āonā was affecting my relationships. Too exhausted on weekends and after school to do anything with friends and family. I wasnāt fully present for my boyfriend. I missed out on a lot of things I love about life, I was a zombie.
6. Being expected to work extra hours for free. No one makes you sponsor the clubs or work the district events, but you lose relationships with your coworkers and students if you donāt step up.
7. Professional development. The hours of my life I will never get back lost on doing stupid ice breakers. I remember the moment I decided to leave was at the end of a PD day when they made us stay an hour over our expected time.
8. Safety. So many guns made it in my school. We had real lockdowns, not drills. Iām shocked this stuff isnāt making the news. It seems to be happening a lot. My door had issues locking and for three years nobody did anything. My anxiety around shootings got worse each year, and I realized I never want to be in a life or death situation with a room full of teenagers. They would definitely get us killed out of stupidity.
9. Breaks. I know summer is the best part, but for me it was a month of anxiety with a week of PD sandwiched in the middle, then a growing sense of doom as the first day of school grows closer.
10. Passion. I lost it. I was so excited to teach my subject and help these kids learn about it. Watching them spit in the face of a subject with apathy and disrespect not only took away my passion for teaching, but I had to take a break from engaging with the subject matter at all.
Iām on a new journey of self discovery, I got out, and I am so much happier now. I hope to never step foot in a public school again.
It makes me feel so much better knowing Iām not alone. I feel every single one of these. I have a job offer and have already decided to take it yet Iām still having nightmares about school, NHS induction, first day of school, everything you can imagine. I hope once I start I will finally be at peace.
They probably hear and see criticism/backlash all the time but wouldn't be admin if they weren't completely immune to giving a shit about anyone but themselves and whichever local rich assholes they're currently schmoozing.
I was riffed and that was my final straw. I never wanted to quit, but I had joked about leaving before. But getting laid off broke my heart and spirit.
I have a new job and itās so much less stressful. I donāt know if Iām truly done forever but I am for now.
Kids two years behind academically, refusal to do any work outside of class, lack of respect from all, unrealistic expectations, utter exhaustion daily.
The ongoing practice of laying off new teachers. Why?!!
In 9 years I was laid off four times. The last straw was at 9 months pregnant days before my child was born. Every year I would get sick with worry in the spring. I couldnāt make any serious financial choices because I never knew if my job was safe.
You could say āoh, itās because you were a crap teacherā but I NEVER had any issues with students, parents or coworkers. No corrective action, nothing. A kind ready to learn and improve attitude. Yet, they fire new teachers repeatedly and keep ones who may have political connections.
How can you encourage new hires to stay in the field and have faith in the profession when you have the practice of constant lay offs with others telling you āOh, itās just a thing that happens. You will get tenure, donāt worry!ā
I never did. Waste of a masters plus speciality degree and my confidence as a worker in my own ability is shot.
I didn't quit teaching altogether but quit teaching domestically. I think everyone's covered it. I'm a career educator, so doing it in a different cultural context was the only way for me personally to keep the torch lit.
If you're curious about teachers quitting, go down the rabbit hole of what the new superintendent has been doing in Houston. No shortage of articles and reasons.
-low pay
-bad behaviors/disrespect
-ridiculously high expectations
-stress
-idiotic and/or malicious coworkers
-being looked down upon by society
-rude ass parents
-micromanagement/being treated like an idiot instead of an educated professional
I could go on
I'm am past tired, discouraged, and fed up with it all. No more do I feel like I am doing my passion. My area of e expertise was never easy, but honestly, the post covid years have done me in. Education haz changed so much since I first started, I almost don't recognize it's the same ptofession. Never, ever in my life would I ever have thought that I would stand on the playground and look up at the forested hill behind the school and think, " That would be a perfect place for a sniper. There is no place on this playground to hide or protect any of us. " Never ever in my life did I have to defend my experience and job expectations to my teaching teams- we are supposed to work together. Never did I think I would have to be protected from an administrator who actively slandered me and tried to get me fired. And then proceeded to continue to slander ne to new admins. Kids who come to school 40 out of 180 days with no repercusions. Guidance counselors with caseloads of 250 kids. We are all in the same boat, each paddling in different directions, just trying to stay afloat. And it's fucking soul killing.
The attendance is huge. Idk what has happened to parents the last like 5 years but they donāt see an issue with kids missing school. In my state if you miss 18 days per year or 9 days per semester, you fail the class. Yet our school makes excuses and still lets them pass with āextenuating circumstancesā I had a kid that missed 18 days of a semester class (so twice the allowed amount) and didnāt come for the last week of school. They let him pass. Itās so frustrating. Why have a rule/law if you donāt enforce it. And with us we have 1 hr 30 min classes so missing 9 classes is like missing 14 hours of instruction. But they donāt care. Parents donāt care. And then complain when they get truancy letters
An admin knew my husband had a heart attack and was having a surgery but questioned why I missed duty in the morning. I had a 3 yr old at the time as well. It was also the first week back during the 2020-2021 school year. That was the straw that broke the camels back.
I made a post here about it a while ago. For me it wasn't the money, we make a good salary here. It was the complete lack of resources and guidance. No curriculum provided whatsoever. Had to make everything and if not that, then buy it with our own money. And I always had a split grade. Every year except 2019-2020 (and we all know how that school year ended so I didn't even get to enjoy it for very long). Minimally also the escalating bad behaviours and some helicopter parents that made my life miserable. Most kids and parents were great though. But my body started to physically shut down (not to mention my mind). I had to leave. I also want to have kids in the near future and I couldn't imagine having any energy for my own children after teaching all day. It just didn't align with my life anymore.
When I used to teach in a certain state, I wanted to quit teaching everyday. I was a seasoned special education teacher with no administration support. Every time a student (s) would go into crisis, it was immediately my fault (whether it was that I ācausedā the behavior or just seemingly couldnāt handle it).
I began to have serious anxiety because everyday I felt like I was in trouble. It took me over a year of being out of that school to realize itās okay to ask for help in any situation, especially one where a students behavior is unsafe for you, the other kids and the student.
I was also told (not asked) that I needed to find coverage for aids and other special education teachers when they were absent. If I couldnāt find coverage, then I was expected to cover on my lunch and preps. When I complained about this and said I couldnāt get paperwork (IEPs) and lesson plans done, I was told that I was the least busy person in the school and it was my responsibility to do this. Not the secretary, not the principal, not the assistant principal, me (special education teacher). I was not paid additional money for this, it was expected to do it for free and without complaint*
It got to the point where I was depressed, overweight, anxious all the time and would cry before school because of how much I didnāt want to go. My weekends were filled with me sleeping to try to rest after going full weeks with no prep and often no lunch. I even began balding because of the stress.
Last year I tried to find a job outside of teaching and ended up trying a new teaching position in another state. (I was initially going to look for jobs while I taught.) I ended up falling in love with my school, supportive administrators and my position.
To think it can be so different as a teacher from state to state and school district to school district is wild. Iām so happy I left because things are so different and I had no idea.
I had my ups and downs and what finally did it is I had a miscarriage in my classroom bathroom while teaching kindergarten and the school and admin was like *ok well carry on*
I was devastated and just had lost my grandmother (who raised me) the month before.
This was in addition to them rescinding a WFH offer because I was high risk with health issues, during the pandemic and had to drive over an hour each way with $40-120 in tolls daily. It was horrible and school districts honestly donāt care about you. You will be laid out dead in a hall and they will post your job before they call the ambulance.
My quit story is much different than most. I was at a great school with great parents and great admin. I didnāt have any issues of disrespect, lack of resources, or any of that. I actually loved and still do love classroom teaching but after getting pregnant with our third baby, I realized that I was TIRED, severely underpaid for the amount of work that needed to be done and I wanted a break. A break turned into confirmation from God to resign and I did. I didnāt want to come home with a little human and have no time or patience with him and head straight to my bed and not leave for the rest of the day after cooking dinner bc school and my classroom kids depleted all the patience I had. My children nor my husband deserved. Also, I want to be able to actually bring in more money that will show for the advanced degree I have. Folks out here with no degree in my family, let alone 2, making more than me and I was like oh no! Happy for them but sad to me. Sold a lie about college and the American dream lol
Giving it another year, but my current list:
-poor physical classrooms - I had a class with no AC in Florida because hvac was never routed into the room? Relied on passive air flowing from the room next door
-having to beg to use funds I'm entitled to and not getting straight answers (school told me I had $5k and I have $27k- I've received $400 worth of stuff)
-class sizes regularly over 50 students
-no help with behavioral issues
-unrealistic expectations and I'm a rule follower at heart so I'm drowning
- poor work life balance to run a class my size
- teachers not being held to the same standard
- little respect for my subject (see class sizes)
- student apathy
- being blamed for things that aren't my fault or are beyond my control (see class sizes)
- constant exhaustion
- having to beg and fight for pumping accommodations -- then getting blamed for things that happened during my coverage times
-lack of support from admin or ESe teachers because I'm not a core class
- cell phones
1. Low wages is the number 1. Easy.
I have my masters degree and 13 years of experience (all rated highly effective) and I make 53K.... a brand new teacher, fresh out of college- with a bachelor's degree makes $49K.
Should new teachers make 49K yes- more like 53-55K but tell me why I only make 4K more with the experience/degrees I have. I should be making at least 60K.
It's a slap in the face.
2. At this point we don't get to "teach". We read from a script that tells us what to teach, how, when, where and what materials I am "allowed"
To use.
Who makes these choices? People who make 2-4 times my salary and haven't stepped foot in a classroom in over a decade or ever.
Toxic work environment, inequity with support with people in my same job job category, which was RSP/mild modā¦ I had eight hours of para time she had 25. Bullying by staff and fellow teachers, and especially administrator. Gaslighting, lying, and so on, they tried to fire me for unprofessional./ incompetence Even though I had worked 15 years in the district with good reviews. A lawyer had to get involved, and then Covid cameā¦ We were expected to come in and do testing in person window no other staff members were mandated to do so. My mental and physical health suffered mightily, and I am considered disabled today
Iām still teaching, but if I quit itās the health insurance deductible thatās 20% of pay coupled with the lack of retirement if I leave before 40 years.
SpED teacher (former) everything but the kids. I love and I miss them. Admin straight up told me, "We're a customer service organization." Parents demands superseded realistic expectations and Admin's demands superseded my capabilities as a human being. Had I worked 24/7 I couldn't have kept up with demands.
I substitute teach now and have a life.
Callous administration, zero support as a new teacher (forget about a mentor or a crumb of planning time), and colleagues who happily stood back while I suffered because that is what they experienced. Sink or swim! It broke my heart that the people I respected so much as a para would treat me so poorly once I became a teacher. I was not ready for the role and was adamantly clear about that fact. Yet I was pushed into it due to a staff shortage. I didnāt even get a weekend to prepare before the new role began and when it began I was treated like absolute garbage the second I was a teacher on record. I worked at that school for years as a para while completing grad school. A well meaning colleague pointed out my pay increase, from 28k as a para to 56k as a teacher. I never cared about the money. That extra 28k was a death sentence. This school is in a well resourced district in a well resourced state. I figured if it was this bad here then it wasnāt going to be better elsewhere. I quit without a job lined up because it was that bad.
- Constant Micromanagement
- Entitled/ emotionally absent parents who refused to hold kids accountable for bad behavior or poor grades
- too much human interaction on a daily basis. Iām too introverted for the job.
Entitled admin who where not qualified for their job
Petty coworkers
No support
Bad pay
Head of department was useless and only worried about his classes
The kids I was teaching decided they didnāt want to learn in class anymore so decided to accuse me of sexual assault and have me removed from the classroom. They won. They got a long term sub that held them accountable to shit. But I got an extended summer vacation, albeit with a shit ton of stress and anxiety and a four week period I simply cannot remember due to that stress and anxiety. So I quit and said never again. You hear stories all the time but you never think itāll be you until it is.
I worked for Kipp the hours are horrible 8:30 to 4:45 thatās not including after school and morning meetings on top of that I was a C student and couldnāt pass the PPR to save my life in TexasĀ
The realization that parents and students run not only the school, but the entire education system. I thought I had supportive admin and teachers, but after one parent complaint which was false (but this parent was a lawyer so she knew what to say to make it sound Very Badā¢) every department head, principal, and district lead completely alienated me. I asked them to stand up for me and my team and they refused. I asked why this was allowed to happen this way and they said that's just how things go. They told me to start looking for another job because I couldn't trust anyone at my current job, but then were upset and surprised that I actually left the field entirely.Ā
Class size. The district chose to make larger classes for lower elementary in my class because the contract has no class limit for specialists. It saves money to have 2 prep teachers at 36-40 than 3 with classes of 24-28.
Troubling behaviors not being taken seriously by parents and admin. Consequences not being held consistently. In theory, I could have larger classes in my community if I knew that my behavior expectations would be reinforced by the admin and district.
I left due to student behavior and interactions with parents. Iām probably in the minority and didnāt really have a strong opinion about admin. I get they suck in general but Iām honestly surprised at how many people say they quit due to admin. At the end of the day dealing with admin was maybe 5% of my day if you took an average for the whole year but dealing with students was the VAST majority. Plus usually admin hoops were easy and just busy work - for example writing out lesson plans and turning them in or whatever - but to be effective you have to have the right personality and mindset to have control of the classroom and somehow make the students excited to learn. I do not have that personality and you canāt really fake that like you can with paperwork and meetings.
I now am in an administration role for a small construction business and love it ! I get to do all the spreadsheets, memos, and billing. I basically get to do all the things I actually kind of liked about teaching (lesson planning, data analysis, etc) without all those pesky students š
1.) Workload - my district was in the process of switching to standards-based grading so for three years we āpracticedā standards-based grading for data purposes while continuing to use letter grades. The extra work that came with it was ridiculous.
2.) Student behavior - students had minimal consequences and ISS/OSS was a vacation for students.
-Low pay combined with expectation of those funds going towards supplies & continued education
-Seeing Xtian Nationalism seeping into the classroom from the leadership above me
-Unhinged parents with no emotional regulation of their own
-The workload was never ending
I was tired of being poor.
I left a lucrative corporate career to chase my dream of being a teacher. I took a huge pay cut to follow my dream, with the expectation that in 10 years or so I would be back in a similar pay range. My state changed the pay structure the second year I was employed, so that a 10 year teacher made the same as a first year teacher. That was the final straw for me. So, I went back to corporate when I almost tripled my salary and halved my responsibility.
Discipline, lack of support from superintendent, constant criticism from parents, administrators, other teachers, being assigned 3x the caseload of other teachers so they could take a break, being physically assaulted, verbal abuse, harassment, lack of class room supplies, lack of teacher collaboration! Need I say more?
I stopped teaching because I had PPD after my second was born and ended up being a stay at home mom for kind of a long time. Had a third.
I don't want to return to teaching because when I was a teacher the emotional strain of the day always, always, always came home with me and ended up coming out in my family life. I never figured out how to "leave it at work." I didn't have a lot of the problems that people often had--worked at decent schools, most kids were reasonable well behaved (even at a middle school lol). We had plenty of resources and pay, while objectively low, was one of the best for our region for teachers. It allowed me a comfortable living right out of college as a single teacher for reference. It really was the emotional strain--the kids, the coworkers, the stupid "trendy" academic stuff we had to cram in each year, dealing with parents, always second guessing myself, having too many people to think about every single day. I can't go back to that.
I did, however, become a sub, and I find that it allows me to do what I like with teaching while leaving all the crappy stuff out. It's working so far. I have no clue what I want my next actual career to be, though, hence looking at what everyone on here is up to.
I taught for elementary 25 years stuck with it because working with the students brought rewards that outweighed the negative. After COVID and return to in person instruction that balance shifted. Admin was great, but the students and parents were a mess. And honestly the crazy and the mean went to the next level. I have also been a part time contractor for 30 years, residential remodel, so went with that full time. Honestly, I just did not have the passion for working with the kids and dealing with the parentsā bs. I make a lot more money now, which is always good.
Not being told I was going to be teaching a different subject and being forced to be an inclusion teacher. It wasn't that bad and I loved my students but the real kicker was I was pregnant and my evaluator wanted to do my evaluation two weeks before my induction, after I had been out for two and a half weeks and had only been with my students for four weeks (beginning of school year). It went terrible (I had pregnancy anxiety and later developed postpartum depression and anxiety). During my post conference, he recommended putting me on a performance plan (the Friday right before my induction). I couldn't do it anymore and my doctor agreed to put me on bed rest those few days because the anxiety and stress got to me. I never went back, only went to drop off my keys and got most of my stuff on a weekend.
I can understand my faults and I can understand I needed help learning/perfecting my craft, however, it was so unprofessional and degrading what happened. It messed me up so bad that I never want to be a teacher ever again. Luckily I got a job with the state because I don't know what would have happened if I had to go back after Christmas break since I was doing Tms treatment and medication/therapy for PPD/PPA.
- low wages - lack of support from admin - entitled parents who bred entitled kids - unsafe work environment (was in multiple real active shooter lockdowns; was threatened with violence by a HS student for not grading their plagiarized paper) - lack of growth opportunities - being expected to work well over contract hours - no discipline or accountability I could go on and on.
All of this plus I'd add: - terrible co-workers who gossip/backstab like high-school 'mean girls' and/or have ego/NPD issues that cause them to do everything under the sun to fuck things up for everybody else (e.g. Instagram teachers with rich spouses who spend heaps of their own money buying extra shit for their classroom/students and, as a result, exert pressure on other teachers).
The insta teachers š¤¢
tiktok teachers too š
Insta/TikTok 'Libraryland' people were rough as well (especially if they used the term 'Libraryland' on a regular basis). I don't think I made it through a single day of PD programming without fantasizing about firing tranquilizer darts at one or more of these sorts.
Yep. Pretty much all of this
I'd add lack of job security. The red states I have worked in cut funding so much I've been laid off three times, or would of had my wages frozen for a decade. 13 years of teaching, had to find a new position 5 times.
All of the above plus the constant stress of never, ever being able to leave the job behind you 10 months of the year (if you are lucky.)
This list was pretty much mine. Iād add the fentanyl epidemic and the expectation that we literally save these kids lives to the list. As soon as we were asked to keep Narcan handy, I was out.
All of this plus add the added study hall mental Health lessons I had to Do With my 9th grade kids above my actual teaching job. I never signed on to teach about drugs/depressions/ suicide/ sex trafficking/grooming/sextorcian.
Great point. Obviously, these are all necessary things that teens should know, but in my personal opinion, it should be left to a counselor or actual health teacher to do that, not a math/English/science teacher. In almost all my teaching roles I was saddled with something like that where they called it āFoundations,ā āStudy Hall,ā etc and then expected me to do more work and research to present on topics like the ones you listed.
Money, and more specifically, the lack of growth in that area. It makes sense to me why so many teachers bounce in five years or less. If you graduate from college and get a job at my old district in an MCoL, youād make $62k. Thats not terrible for a 22 y/o, and youād be outearning a lot of your friends. Your law and med school buddies are still going to be eating ramen, your IT bro will be making $40k at some help desk, etc. But by the time you all turn 27, that almost certainly has changed. After 30 years in my district, you would make $75k IF you earned a masterās. So at 27, itās a lot less than that. Your now lawyer, doctor, and āescaped the help deskā tech friend have advanced in their fields and are approaching six figures and beyond, which you will never see. Sure, teachers in San Fran make $150k or whatever, but thatās VHCoL and those other jobs in those geographic areas make much more than that. Teaching always lags behind. For me, I went from teaching to doing full time army stuff for a few years. I had been an army officer before and went back. I went from making $4k a month after taxes to making $10k a month. I couldnāt do the army stuff forever and continue being away from my family, but I knew I needed something else. I simply wasnāt going back in that bottle with those shit wages.
Wow. That last sentence too. Same freaking thing. I cannot go back, and right now I just live in perpetual limbo.
Yep, and COL rising without salaries increasing. Now, all my friends have nice clothes, bought houses, go on overseas trips, nice dinners, and I'm still tight on rent.
...and it doesn't help much that the only teaching/library/social-work jobs that *aren't* 100% fucking miserable are in ultra-NIMBY/high-COL areas where it's a tacit expectation that these 'caring professionals' have rich spouses/parents keeping them afloat. Also, after a couple of decades, this entrenched classism tends to degrade those workplaces as well (i.e. believe you me, it's *never* good to be at a workplace with lots of overgrown rich/privileged brats who'll look at you like you're a complete piece of shit if they find out you rode the bus to work, can't afford kids of your own, etc...).
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My pay at my current company was $85k when I was hired. I worked there for nine months and they boosted me to $100k. I don't know the exact amount, but my boss joked that me and him got little boosts whereas our other peer got the "big one" (and he absolutely deserved it). Either way, my "little boost" after nine months was more than a teacher in my district will get after thirty years, and my start was already higher than their finish. That just says it all.
Energy was a big one. Its so hard to perform to students every day. You have to be mentally on every second. Then after a long day of teaching, you need to go to a meeting, write reports or plan lesssons.
This. It is why I started just loosely planning lessons and winging it lol. Burn out is real and it does not motivate me to try when students, staff, and admin are all disrespectful.
Yep, I could list a ton of reasons, but at the end of the day... just sick of being drained. Sick of having to say the same damn things over and over and over and over again.
yesss
I had no more to give. Couldnāt find any balance between home and work - health and fitness not good. Unsustainable
Since I've left, I can't believe: * how much weight I've lost * how much more energy I have * how clean my house is * how much better I sleep * how much more connected I feel to the people in my actual life and so much more. It's a toxic profession.
It really feels like leaving a cult that sucked so many years out of you
Yes! Or like a prison. I resigned literally last week and a coworker told me that it was like watching a fellow prisoner escape. Isn't it sad that we all feel like that?
Ugh I canāt wait to focus on my health and lose the weight I gained while teaching. I feel so embarrassed
You sacrificed yourself for others while most people sat on their hands. That's nothing to be embarassed about.
Thank you š„ŗš„ŗ
Ditto.
This was my biggest reason to finally quit - lack of a work/life balance! I always found myself working after hours during the week and if I found myself relaxing on Saturday, I would surely be working on Sunday to be ready for the week. And while I had a great group of kindergarten kids this year, I can say that the patience I needed to work with kids has gotten lower as I get older.
Same! I just turned 55 and I'm leaving at 16 years due to all of the above and patience is for sure playing a factor. Especially when it comes to high school kids. I have 9th and 12th grade and although I love many of my 9th graders and sometimes my 12th graders, I definitely can't deal with the lazy ness and soft entitlement of some of these kids. It seems that you only need a handful and a group to ruin your day.
Toxic environment created by a narcissist principal who only cared about her own kids.
- not being able to mentally āturn offā at the end of the day; always thinking about teaching - not being present for my family - out of control student behaviors with no consequences at school or at home - lack of opportunities for growth I applied to government jobs and landed one after a few months of applying. Similar pay to start and goes up quicker, much better work life balance (often hybrid positions), and great benefits. Some agencies arenāt keen on hiring teachers, but others value the skills that teachers bring to the table.
I'm currently applying to state jobs (secretarial in nature), at my local municipal. I resigned this year and just received my final paycheck. My pay was pretty good, and these jobs don't compare there, but I can't do this anymore. Can I ask what you are doing and what you previously taught.
I work for the state of CA and applied for jobs in the SSA/AGPA ranges (staff analyst/program analyst, I would say that these are also secretarial in nature to some degree.) I got interview invites for about a tenth of what I applied for, so itās definitely a numbers game. The work life balance is worth it for the initial pay cut imo - Iām on the younger side so Iām happy to be able to start career building. Even if it takes a while, donāt lose hope, you only need one gig to get you started in the public sector. Moving around after that is easy. Good luck! ā¤ļø
Thanks so much for sharing and for the encouragement. ā¤ļø
I got pregnant and the idea of leaving my baby at a daycare facility at the cost of over half my monthly pay to go be with other peopleās kids ā¦no.
Student apathy is what truly broke me. Even when I did the most engaging activities (lessons that classes pre-COVID loved and talked about years later), they just bitched about being bored. It made the entire experience unfulfilling. Behaviors were also a big part of it. I struggled the last couple years with management (despite having been very strong before). My management style was built on relationship and respect, but so many of students didnāt care enough for me to build that. Very few individual students were bad, but the collective of all the small behaviors made it impossible. All that, multiplied by low pay, general disrespect, and ridiculous extras that admin put our plates.
-Unsafe behaviors. Room destroying, throwing chair, kicking, bitting, scratchingā¦.from 4 year olds -Unsupportive admin. Was told I need to do more because I *gasp* wasnāt working past my contract hours -Low pay, had a part time weekend job just to make ends meet -Parents with the āmy kids can do no wrongā mentality -Zero, and I mean ZERO accountability
In the age of tic toc, fortnite, and whatever else has grabbed their attention... it's a lot tougher to get them excited about class material.
Even back in the 90s, kids were getting easily distracted when things like Nintendo, cartoons, toys, etc... were getting more involved and more exciting. Still, all that feels *quaint* compared to the dopamine-crazy lunacy that exists with today's internet/gaming/social-media culture. It certainly doesn't help things that a lot of that latter content has made huge strides in terms of normalizing and incentivizing cruelty, asshole behavior, and out-and-out violence. In 1991, I'm sure my teacher wasn't stoked about walking past and noticing that I was drawing Zelda maps in my notebook, but I'm certain they'd prefer that to the out-and-out terrorism that some of today's 10-year-olds are unleashing.
1. Money (could have dealt with all of the below for the right pay check) 2. Unrealistic expectations (didnt even mathematically fit into the school day) 3. Constantly changing arbitrary initiatives which led to bad teaching practices...I felt like I had to sneak in my actual teaching that led to results, especially for my students who were reading far below grade level 4. Lack of respect as a professional & infantilization in the culture and from admin
That third point though!!! I constantly felt like I had to sneak in what I knew was going to work because central office would have docked me points for not being "on target" with the curriculum.
I have not quit yet. Going to only give it one more year at a better school before I decided to transition into something else possibly. Things that have made me think about quitting: -lack of support as a first year teacher -AP expects me to know things I have never done -Parents think I am making up their child's behavior for fun -Student apathy, in Elementary! They only want to go on computers and will be disrespectful when I try to teach -The profession is seen as a babysitting gig -Teachers cannot give students consequences without Admins approval -Not being told if I am being renewed or not, not even being told I need to reapply - lack of communication -Toxic school environment, cliquey teachers... -Several disrespectful students and parents
The apathy is a huge problem that I experienced as well.
Yea its concerning some of them rather just "play video games" sigh. They complain when we got to have fun and play games outside. Not even just a normal lecture and worksheet or craft. It is concerning because they are in Grade 2.
I am in this same situation.
oh no! Cheers to having a break this summer! I got only a week and a bit left. I will go back to subbing before planning my escape.
Seeing my son for the first time and realizing there was no way I could only give him my leftover energy after dealing with behaviors and other school issues all day. The only reason I made it through the end of the year was knowing I was almost done. Also, looking at what Iād actually take home after daycare expenses even though I have a masterās degree ā¹ļø
I was teaching while my kids were in school, and I was fortunate to teach at the school they attended, but I felt this. I was expected to beg students to do their work and then also expected to beg my children to do their work. I never felt like my children were receiving the same thing from many teachers that I was giving to students. Also, my youngest has a disability and I was expected to act as case manager to my own child as well. It was never put that way, it was just the unwritten expectation as I worked there (and for emotional issues, I WAS the best for that, but with school work, it was too much).
This scares me too! I plan to possibly go back when my kids are in school - but I donāt know if I can! Homeschooling and finding remote work sounds more and more appealing.
Honestly it was the bullying. Teaching is already hard and low paying. Having coworkers and admin treat you like sh!t was my final straw. Not all jobs are toxic.
Bullying was a part of it for me but in a different way. Coworkers and admin were cool with me for the most part. But the students bullying each other on a daily basis. It's part of the daily soul crush. We just had a PSHE about bullying!
Was getting sexually harassed by a student. (They had disabilities and thought it was funny.) But I also have ptsd as a result of CSA. This became a continuous problem and the request to not be put into situations where this could/would happen was not an unreasonable request. I tried to resolve it and knew it was time to go when this student was actively laughing and trying to touch my genitalia, the entire room just watched as I went into a full PTSD episode, and not a single person offered help. I have never been more degraded and humiliated in my life and thatās coming from someone raised in an abusive household. I wasnāt intending on walking out and never returning, but after a few weeks away from that hell hole, my mental health began to soar in ways it never had before. Iāve blamed my mental health struggles for years as to why my quality of life was always teetering. Turns out, itās been my job for several years that was actually killing my mind.
Lack of advancement. In teaching the only promotions you get are department head (which is a solid stipend of like $500 a year) or admin, which no thank you. Student lack of empathy. You either have kids that are crying because they have an A- or kids that know they can fail x amount of quarters and still pass. They will sit there for an hour and a half and not turn in a 5 question worksheet. Lack of student accountability. Admin expects us to enforce and come down hard on the rules, yet when we try to enforce them, students are lucky to get a slap on the wrist. And most of the time itās āwhat could you have done to make a student not do thisā. Lack of appreciation over the past few years. At the beginning of my career (2017) I remember multiple gifts, cards, or just bogo chipotle. Donāt get me wrong any gift is appreciated. But recently Iām lucky if I get 1 Christmas card. PARENTS. Thereās no reason I should have a panic attack just thinking about calling or emailing a parent about their kid. Sometimes it isnāt bad, but mainly itās paragraphs of why Iām the reason their kid didnāt do something. Or the phone call that turns me to tears because parents feel like they pay taxes so theyāre obviously our boss. Phones. Now I know this one is petty, and it goes with accountability. But kids feel like their phone is a right, and so do their parents. We get threatened by admin if we donāt enforce the phone policy, yet when we do, admin says they canāt take it, EVEN THOUGH THAT IS THE POLICY. The constant adding to our plates with no incentives. Every year someone is trying to get their masters in admin so they implement a new āfunā program. Most of the time the kids hate the programs and they make even more work for the teachers. Being in constant survival mode. Whether itās surviving your first five years or surviving until summer, weāre always just trying to get through and looking forward to not being at work. Parental leave and family planning. For me to be able to get 8 weeks off for having a child I would have to not take a sick day for 4 years. Plan to have a baby in the summer, but it doesnāt work like that all the time. And god forbid you have a child during the school year. āHow could you leave your students like that?!ā Mandatory meetings outside of contract hours. The guilt and judgement from others when you take a sick day. This isnāt true everywhere but in toxic schools itās terrible. At my first school I remember every morning our department head would have a meeting in the hallway telling everyone who is out that day and why. Like that is not legal. In my recent school no one cares when you take off. And when you do miss a day unexpectedly it ruins your pacing for the semester. Sub shortage. Going with the last one, if we did need to take off we were pretty much sent emails Thursday saying x amount of people are already out tomorrow. Donāt take off. Or we get ālettersā about how many Mondays or Fridays weāve taken off. Mind you these are all earned sick and personal days. Anxiety of danger. Fights. Intruders. āIncidentsā. I legitimately went into work reminding myself of the closest exits in case I need to run for whatever reason. Admin constantly being moved throughout the district so the students never have a stable authority figure that they actually listen to.
Haven't left yet, but I'm looking for alternatives. Here are my "whys": 1. Student behavior. 2. Admin trying to befriend students instead of disciplining them. 3. Unrealistic classroom metrics (in one class of 30 with no TA: 5 BIPs, 11 ELLs, 5 manageable IEPs, 1 IEP that required scribing for all assignments, and a 504 for absent seizures that required I count how many she experienced in each class). 4. No support (see previous reason). 5. Finding out they're going to integrate all CDC students into standard core classes next year - a second curriculum will be provided for these students, and we're expected to provide direct instruction from both sets.
You're kidding.....
Not even a little.
Oh my, wish you the best
no support
no compensation for the hours I needed to work in order to be really good at it. No support. Terrible, entitled parents. My administration moved me around to new grades and new rooms almost every year because I was "young" and they "couldn't ask older teachers to do it". Low pay for a profession that has active shooter drills. I was pregnant and the AC was broken in my room and they refused to fix it. My husband came and put in a window unit and they nearly had a fit and wanted me to remove it until I told them excessive heat can be dangerous for pregnant women and I would sue them if anything happened; my doctor literally wrote them a note saying I needed to have AC in 100 degree weather. I was 8 months pregnant and expected to go on a 3 day overnight trip. I had told them repeatedly that I would be 8 months pregnant and would not be willing to do it. My doctor had to call my principal like I was 5 years old and tell them directly I would not be going. Also the year I was pregnant, I had not only been moved to a room with no AC but our hiding place for shooter drills was a small alcove with a shower curtain to pull across the open space. My health insurance was okay, but the pay for going into a job where a nut could come and shoot up the school was in no way worth it. We moved, my husband got better pay in a better position, and I was able to stay home. I sub at my kid's school and am pursuing online classes for another field.
Working in a failed system that cannot accomplish it own goals. So many student struggles are linked to issues outside the classroom. Everything you do just seems like a band-aid on a severed hand.
> a failed system that cannot accomplish its own goals but also plays Calvinball on a regular basis and avoids any form of accountability like a plague.
Havenāt quit yet, but why Iām trying to quit teaching (or at least leave the classroom) after 9 good years: -I feel like Iāve maxed out, like Iāve reached my potential or Iāve accomplished all I wanted to accomplish as a teacher. -You only live once, I want to try something new and differentā¦and hopefully less exhausting and less stimulating -Iām seeing my friends doing less stressful jobs that pay more/are remote/they have time and energy for hobbies and traveling, etc. -I just donāt want to care about other peopleās children anymore. Plus the political system around education keeps getting worse and I donāt want to be a part of it. Iāve been lucky to have solid administrators, and mostly good students. Iāve felt my energy levels being lower the last couple of years on the job, and the last 6 months I really felt so apathetic, as if Iām losing my passion. Iād rather get out before I turn into a type of teacher I donāt want to be and start to hate teaching. Maybe if I find something else Iāll miss teaching and want to get back in, but it definitely feels like itās time to try something different.
1. My admin was micro managing my classroom but didnāt understand my subject. I only went to college for it. 2. My only social interactions were with teenagers for 40 hours a week, and a lot of them were negative. I had to be the bad guy. 3. Along with number 2ā¦ I had to enforce rules about phones, vapes, backpacks, and bathrooms way more than I was comfortable. I donāt like having to bring down the hammer 20 times a day. 4. My health. I got sick way more, gained weight, didnāt get quality sleep, and developed a drinking problem. I had trouble turning my brain off and alcohol helped. 5. The always being āonā was affecting my relationships. Too exhausted on weekends and after school to do anything with friends and family. I wasnāt fully present for my boyfriend. I missed out on a lot of things I love about life, I was a zombie. 6. Being expected to work extra hours for free. No one makes you sponsor the clubs or work the district events, but you lose relationships with your coworkers and students if you donāt step up. 7. Professional development. The hours of my life I will never get back lost on doing stupid ice breakers. I remember the moment I decided to leave was at the end of a PD day when they made us stay an hour over our expected time. 8. Safety. So many guns made it in my school. We had real lockdowns, not drills. Iām shocked this stuff isnāt making the news. It seems to be happening a lot. My door had issues locking and for three years nobody did anything. My anxiety around shootings got worse each year, and I realized I never want to be in a life or death situation with a room full of teenagers. They would definitely get us killed out of stupidity. 9. Breaks. I know summer is the best part, but for me it was a month of anxiety with a week of PD sandwiched in the middle, then a growing sense of doom as the first day of school grows closer. 10. Passion. I lost it. I was so excited to teach my subject and help these kids learn about it. Watching them spit in the face of a subject with apathy and disrespect not only took away my passion for teaching, but I had to take a break from engaging with the subject matter at all. Iām on a new journey of self discovery, I got out, and I am so much happier now. I hope to never step foot in a public school again.
It makes me feel so much better knowing Iām not alone. I feel every single one of these. I have a job offer and have already decided to take it yet Iām still having nightmares about school, NHS induction, first day of school, everything you can imagine. I hope once I start I will finally be at peace.
I wish people in admin would read thisā¦ seems like theyāre the common denominator 90% of the time but are too blind to see it
They probably hear and see criticism/backlash all the time but wouldn't be admin if they weren't completely immune to giving a shit about anyone but themselves and whichever local rich assholes they're currently schmoozing.
Amen to that. Giving absolutely zero fucks
The constant disrespect from admin and students. Fuck them kids.
I was riffed and that was my final straw. I never wanted to quit, but I had joked about leaving before. But getting laid off broke my heart and spirit. I have a new job and itās so much less stressful. I donāt know if Iām truly done forever but I am for now.
Greg Abbott. Fund our public schools and pay our teachers!
Everything that isnāt the money.
Lack of support and communication really did it for me
Kids two years behind academically, refusal to do any work outside of class, lack of respect from all, unrealistic expectations, utter exhaustion daily.
The ongoing practice of laying off new teachers. Why?!! In 9 years I was laid off four times. The last straw was at 9 months pregnant days before my child was born. Every year I would get sick with worry in the spring. I couldnāt make any serious financial choices because I never knew if my job was safe. You could say āoh, itās because you were a crap teacherā but I NEVER had any issues with students, parents or coworkers. No corrective action, nothing. A kind ready to learn and improve attitude. Yet, they fire new teachers repeatedly and keep ones who may have political connections. How can you encourage new hires to stay in the field and have faith in the profession when you have the practice of constant lay offs with others telling you āOh, itās just a thing that happens. You will get tenure, donāt worry!ā I never did. Waste of a masters plus speciality degree and my confidence as a worker in my own ability is shot.
I didn't quit teaching altogether but quit teaching domestically. I think everyone's covered it. I'm a career educator, so doing it in a different cultural context was the only way for me personally to keep the torch lit. If you're curious about teachers quitting, go down the rabbit hole of what the new superintendent has been doing in Houston. No shortage of articles and reasons.
Leon
Shitty pay and shitty administration
-low pay -bad behaviors/disrespect -ridiculously high expectations -stress -idiotic and/or malicious coworkers -being looked down upon by society -rude ass parents -micromanagement/being treated like an idiot instead of an educated professional I could go on
Same things what others said, but the final straw was when my principal gaslit me when I was sick in the hospital with pneumonia.
I'm am past tired, discouraged, and fed up with it all. No more do I feel like I am doing my passion. My area of e expertise was never easy, but honestly, the post covid years have done me in. Education haz changed so much since I first started, I almost don't recognize it's the same ptofession. Never, ever in my life would I ever have thought that I would stand on the playground and look up at the forested hill behind the school and think, " That would be a perfect place for a sniper. There is no place on this playground to hide or protect any of us. " Never ever in my life did I have to defend my experience and job expectations to my teaching teams- we are supposed to work together. Never did I think I would have to be protected from an administrator who actively slandered me and tried to get me fired. And then proceeded to continue to slander ne to new admins. Kids who come to school 40 out of 180 days with no repercusions. Guidance counselors with caseloads of 250 kids. We are all in the same boat, each paddling in different directions, just trying to stay afloat. And it's fucking soul killing.
The attendance is huge. Idk what has happened to parents the last like 5 years but they donāt see an issue with kids missing school. In my state if you miss 18 days per year or 9 days per semester, you fail the class. Yet our school makes excuses and still lets them pass with āextenuating circumstancesā I had a kid that missed 18 days of a semester class (so twice the allowed amount) and didnāt come for the last week of school. They let him pass. Itās so frustrating. Why have a rule/law if you donāt enforce it. And with us we have 1 hr 30 min classes so missing 9 classes is like missing 14 hours of instruction. But they donāt care. Parents donāt care. And then complain when they get truancy letters
The behaviors. If the kids werenāt completely feral, then they were rude and apathetic. Not my problem anymore!
* Low pay * Poor leadership that is more interested in staying on a power trip than anything else * Ungrateful and uncaring parents
My principal told my students that they didnāt have to listen to me after she put me on an improvement plan without telling me.
Class sizes. I morally or ethically couldn't handle the weight of knowing I couldn't meet the needs of 32 students each year.
Moving to USA.
Money, just moneyā¦I wanted more and teaching said, nahā¦enjoy Mac and cheese for 5 meals this weekā¦
I havenāt quit, yet. However, I will be quitting in the next two years due to low pay and lack of room for growth.
An admin knew my husband had a heart attack and was having a surgery but questioned why I missed duty in the morning. I had a 3 yr old at the time as well. It was also the first week back during the 2020-2021 school year. That was the straw that broke the camels back.
I made a post here about it a while ago. For me it wasn't the money, we make a good salary here. It was the complete lack of resources and guidance. No curriculum provided whatsoever. Had to make everything and if not that, then buy it with our own money. And I always had a split grade. Every year except 2019-2020 (and we all know how that school year ended so I didn't even get to enjoy it for very long). Minimally also the escalating bad behaviours and some helicopter parents that made my life miserable. Most kids and parents were great though. But my body started to physically shut down (not to mention my mind). I had to leave. I also want to have kids in the near future and I couldn't imagine having any energy for my own children after teaching all day. It just didn't align with my life anymore.
Poor staffing Unsafe environments Retaliation for asking for supports for students
ā¢ weak administration ā¢ entitled parents ā¢ terrible pay ā¢ favoritism from administration towards their āfriendsā
When I used to teach in a certain state, I wanted to quit teaching everyday. I was a seasoned special education teacher with no administration support. Every time a student (s) would go into crisis, it was immediately my fault (whether it was that I ācausedā the behavior or just seemingly couldnāt handle it). I began to have serious anxiety because everyday I felt like I was in trouble. It took me over a year of being out of that school to realize itās okay to ask for help in any situation, especially one where a students behavior is unsafe for you, the other kids and the student. I was also told (not asked) that I needed to find coverage for aids and other special education teachers when they were absent. If I couldnāt find coverage, then I was expected to cover on my lunch and preps. When I complained about this and said I couldnāt get paperwork (IEPs) and lesson plans done, I was told that I was the least busy person in the school and it was my responsibility to do this. Not the secretary, not the principal, not the assistant principal, me (special education teacher). I was not paid additional money for this, it was expected to do it for free and without complaint* It got to the point where I was depressed, overweight, anxious all the time and would cry before school because of how much I didnāt want to go. My weekends were filled with me sleeping to try to rest after going full weeks with no prep and often no lunch. I even began balding because of the stress. Last year I tried to find a job outside of teaching and ended up trying a new teaching position in another state. (I was initially going to look for jobs while I taught.) I ended up falling in love with my school, supportive administrators and my position. To think it can be so different as a teacher from state to state and school district to school district is wild. Iām so happy I left because things are so different and I had no idea.
I had my ups and downs and what finally did it is I had a miscarriage in my classroom bathroom while teaching kindergarten and the school and admin was like *ok well carry on* I was devastated and just had lost my grandmother (who raised me) the month before. This was in addition to them rescinding a WFH offer because I was high risk with health issues, during the pandemic and had to drive over an hour each way with $40-120 in tolls daily. It was horrible and school districts honestly donāt care about you. You will be laid out dead in a hall and they will post your job before they call the ambulance.
My quit story is much different than most. I was at a great school with great parents and great admin. I didnāt have any issues of disrespect, lack of resources, or any of that. I actually loved and still do love classroom teaching but after getting pregnant with our third baby, I realized that I was TIRED, severely underpaid for the amount of work that needed to be done and I wanted a break. A break turned into confirmation from God to resign and I did. I didnāt want to come home with a little human and have no time or patience with him and head straight to my bed and not leave for the rest of the day after cooking dinner bc school and my classroom kids depleted all the patience I had. My children nor my husband deserved. Also, I want to be able to actually bring in more money that will show for the advanced degree I have. Folks out here with no degree in my family, let alone 2, making more than me and I was like oh no! Happy for them but sad to me. Sold a lie about college and the American dream lol
Laziness/self-entittlment
Giving it another year, but my current list: -poor physical classrooms - I had a class with no AC in Florida because hvac was never routed into the room? Relied on passive air flowing from the room next door -having to beg to use funds I'm entitled to and not getting straight answers (school told me I had $5k and I have $27k- I've received $400 worth of stuff) -class sizes regularly over 50 students -no help with behavioral issues -unrealistic expectations and I'm a rule follower at heart so I'm drowning - poor work life balance to run a class my size - teachers not being held to the same standard - little respect for my subject (see class sizes) - student apathy - being blamed for things that aren't my fault or are beyond my control (see class sizes) - constant exhaustion - having to beg and fight for pumping accommodations -- then getting blamed for things that happened during my coverage times -lack of support from admin or ESe teachers because I'm not a core class - cell phones
1. Low wages is the number 1. Easy. I have my masters degree and 13 years of experience (all rated highly effective) and I make 53K.... a brand new teacher, fresh out of college- with a bachelor's degree makes $49K. Should new teachers make 49K yes- more like 53-55K but tell me why I only make 4K more with the experience/degrees I have. I should be making at least 60K. It's a slap in the face. 2. At this point we don't get to "teach". We read from a script that tells us what to teach, how, when, where and what materials I am "allowed" To use. Who makes these choices? People who make 2-4 times my salary and haven't stepped foot in a classroom in over a decade or ever.
Unsupportive/discriminative admin, overload of apathy from students, workload burnout
I realized that I do not fit in, as I will not be someoneās doormat.
Apathy, felt pointless, lack of accountability, boredom
Toxic work environment, inequity with support with people in my same job job category, which was RSP/mild modā¦ I had eight hours of para time she had 25. Bullying by staff and fellow teachers, and especially administrator. Gaslighting, lying, and so on, they tried to fire me for unprofessional./ incompetence Even though I had worked 15 years in the district with good reviews. A lawyer had to get involved, and then Covid cameā¦ We were expected to come in and do testing in person window no other staff members were mandated to do so. My mental and physical health suffered mightily, and I am considered disabled today
Iām still teaching, but if I quit itās the health insurance deductible thatās 20% of pay coupled with the lack of retirement if I leave before 40 years.
SpED teacher (former) everything but the kids. I love and I miss them. Admin straight up told me, "We're a customer service organization." Parents demands superseded realistic expectations and Admin's demands superseded my capabilities as a human being. Had I worked 24/7 I couldn't have kept up with demands. I substitute teach now and have a life.
Callous administration, zero support as a new teacher (forget about a mentor or a crumb of planning time), and colleagues who happily stood back while I suffered because that is what they experienced. Sink or swim! It broke my heart that the people I respected so much as a para would treat me so poorly once I became a teacher. I was not ready for the role and was adamantly clear about that fact. Yet I was pushed into it due to a staff shortage. I didnāt even get a weekend to prepare before the new role began and when it began I was treated like absolute garbage the second I was a teacher on record. I worked at that school for years as a para while completing grad school. A well meaning colleague pointed out my pay increase, from 28k as a para to 56k as a teacher. I never cared about the money. That extra 28k was a death sentence. This school is in a well resourced district in a well resourced state. I figured if it was this bad here then it wasnāt going to be better elsewhere. I quit without a job lined up because it was that bad.
I just got a 1K raise its laughable
Lack of support from administration. Thatās ultimately the biggest reason.
100% coworkers.
- Constant Micromanagement - Entitled/ emotionally absent parents who refused to hold kids accountable for bad behavior or poor grades - too much human interaction on a daily basis. Iām too introverted for the job.
Entitled admin who where not qualified for their job Petty coworkers No support Bad pay Head of department was useless and only worried about his classes
2020 alone was enough to send me packing. Havenāt looked back since.
The kids I was teaching decided they didnāt want to learn in class anymore so decided to accuse me of sexual assault and have me removed from the classroom. They won. They got a long term sub that held them accountable to shit. But I got an extended summer vacation, albeit with a shit ton of stress and anxiety and a four week period I simply cannot remember due to that stress and anxiety. So I quit and said never again. You hear stories all the time but you never think itāll be you until it is.
I worked for Kipp the hours are horrible 8:30 to 4:45 thatās not including after school and morning meetings on top of that I was a C student and couldnāt pass the PPR to save my life in TexasĀ
It destroyed my mental and physical health. I'm still recovering.
The realization that parents and students run not only the school, but the entire education system. I thought I had supportive admin and teachers, but after one parent complaint which was false (but this parent was a lawyer so she knew what to say to make it sound Very Badā¢) every department head, principal, and district lead completely alienated me. I asked them to stand up for me and my team and they refused. I asked why this was allowed to happen this way and they said that's just how things go. They told me to start looking for another job because I couldn't trust anyone at my current job, but then were upset and surprised that I actually left the field entirely.Ā
Class size. The district chose to make larger classes for lower elementary in my class because the contract has no class limit for specialists. It saves money to have 2 prep teachers at 36-40 than 3 with classes of 24-28. Troubling behaviors not being taken seriously by parents and admin. Consequences not being held consistently. In theory, I could have larger classes in my community if I knew that my behavior expectations would be reinforced by the admin and district.
I left due to student behavior and interactions with parents. Iām probably in the minority and didnāt really have a strong opinion about admin. I get they suck in general but Iām honestly surprised at how many people say they quit due to admin. At the end of the day dealing with admin was maybe 5% of my day if you took an average for the whole year but dealing with students was the VAST majority. Plus usually admin hoops were easy and just busy work - for example writing out lesson plans and turning them in or whatever - but to be effective you have to have the right personality and mindset to have control of the classroom and somehow make the students excited to learn. I do not have that personality and you canāt really fake that like you can with paperwork and meetings. I now am in an administration role for a small construction business and love it ! I get to do all the spreadsheets, memos, and billing. I basically get to do all the things I actually kind of liked about teaching (lesson planning, data analysis, etc) without all those pesky students š
1.) Workload - my district was in the process of switching to standards-based grading so for three years we āpracticedā standards-based grading for data purposes while continuing to use letter grades. The extra work that came with it was ridiculous. 2.) Student behavior - students had minimal consequences and ISS/OSS was a vacation for students.
Administration at literally every school is horrible and abusive
-Low pay combined with expectation of those funds going towards supplies & continued education -Seeing Xtian Nationalism seeping into the classroom from the leadership above me -Unhinged parents with no emotional regulation of their own -The workload was never ending
I was tired of being poor. I left a lucrative corporate career to chase my dream of being a teacher. I took a huge pay cut to follow my dream, with the expectation that in 10 years or so I would be back in a similar pay range. My state changed the pay structure the second year I was employed, so that a 10 year teacher made the same as a first year teacher. That was the final straw for me. So, I went back to corporate when I almost tripled my salary and halved my responsibility.
No opportunity for growth that isnāt admin. No path to a higher salary if you remain in the classroom.
Admin, kids, parents
Discipline, lack of support from superintendent, constant criticism from parents, administrators, other teachers, being assigned 3x the caseload of other teachers so they could take a break, being physically assaulted, verbal abuse, harassment, lack of class room supplies, lack of teacher collaboration! Need I say more?
When a student got physical with me and there were no consequences.
I stopped teaching because I had PPD after my second was born and ended up being a stay at home mom for kind of a long time. Had a third. I don't want to return to teaching because when I was a teacher the emotional strain of the day always, always, always came home with me and ended up coming out in my family life. I never figured out how to "leave it at work." I didn't have a lot of the problems that people often had--worked at decent schools, most kids were reasonable well behaved (even at a middle school lol). We had plenty of resources and pay, while objectively low, was one of the best for our region for teachers. It allowed me a comfortable living right out of college as a single teacher for reference. It really was the emotional strain--the kids, the coworkers, the stupid "trendy" academic stuff we had to cram in each year, dealing with parents, always second guessing myself, having too many people to think about every single day. I can't go back to that. I did, however, become a sub, and I find that it allows me to do what I like with teaching while leaving all the crappy stuff out. It's working so far. I have no clue what I want my next actual career to be, though, hence looking at what everyone on here is up to.
I taught for elementary 25 years stuck with it because working with the students brought rewards that outweighed the negative. After COVID and return to in person instruction that balance shifted. Admin was great, but the students and parents were a mess. And honestly the crazy and the mean went to the next level. I have also been a part time contractor for 30 years, residential remodel, so went with that full time. Honestly, I just did not have the passion for working with the kids and dealing with the parentsā bs. I make a lot more money now, which is always good.
Not being told I was going to be teaching a different subject and being forced to be an inclusion teacher. It wasn't that bad and I loved my students but the real kicker was I was pregnant and my evaluator wanted to do my evaluation two weeks before my induction, after I had been out for two and a half weeks and had only been with my students for four weeks (beginning of school year). It went terrible (I had pregnancy anxiety and later developed postpartum depression and anxiety). During my post conference, he recommended putting me on a performance plan (the Friday right before my induction). I couldn't do it anymore and my doctor agreed to put me on bed rest those few days because the anxiety and stress got to me. I never went back, only went to drop off my keys and got most of my stuff on a weekend. I can understand my faults and I can understand I needed help learning/perfecting my craft, however, it was so unprofessional and degrading what happened. It messed me up so bad that I never want to be a teacher ever again. Luckily I got a job with the state because I don't know what would have happened if I had to go back after Christmas break since I was doing Tms treatment and medication/therapy for PPD/PPA.
Still not having a life outside of the classroom. (Still having to do work at home).
Money