Another teacher leaves the profession early…
The Washington Post recently ran this op-ed piece about another young teacher leaving the profession.
This story is way to common. However, it seems to fit in with our recent discussions about teacher education programs in some ways. Are we really preparing educators for what awaits them? Excerpt follows….
The teaching itself was exhilarating but disheartening. There were triumphs: energetic seminar discussions, cross-class projects, a student-led poetry slam. This past year, my 10th-graders even knocked the DC-CAS reading test out of the water. Even so, I felt like a failure. Too many of my students showed only occasional signs of intellectual curiosity, despite my best efforts to engage them. Too many of them still would not or could not read. And far too many of them fell through the cracks. Of the 130 freshmen who entered the school in 2005, about 50 graduated this spring.
There is yet another factor that played a part in my choice, something that I rarely mention. It has to do with the way that some people, mostly nonteachers, talk about the profession.
Sarah is on to something here. How can we attract people to the profession when everyone you know criticizes your choice of a teaching career? I know many educators who say the lack of respect has worn them down and they know longer encourage young people to consider education as a career.
It’s a shame. It should be the most optimistic and encouraging of all professions.
My teaching philosophy has always been, “Teacher is a personality first, then a profession.” Not to disregard Sarah’s experience, but I think it takes that personality that is optimistic, hopeful and even responds to cynicism of our profession with our own brand of pity and sarcasm for those who just don’t or won’t understand.
There are lots of improvement to be made in schools, policy, prep programs, and the teaching culture overall, but bottom line, it takes a certain willingness to fight, return to the trough (like this blog), then go back to battle. I frequently remind my staff of a quote that always inspires me, “If not now, when? If not here, where? If not me, who?”
I like Walt’s comment about the personality. I read once that the best salespersons are those that are not deflated by rejection, but energized – trying to find some way to create value for their customers. While I don’t deny there is way too much criticism of the profession by non-educators, I also believe the only way to overcome that societal perception is to welcome it and open the dialogue toward improving education for all students from all directions.
Just as Sarah’s is but one voice, so is mine. I have never had anyone disrespect my choice to be a teacher. In fact I can think of multiple times where small, what-do-you-do type talk has turned into nearly embarrassing praise from near strangers gushing about how honorable, selfless, and respectable it is that my wife and I teach. I appreciate the kind words, but don’t need them to contiue teaching. I can imagine I would be very upset to have my profession disrespected to my face, but would not let it aid in discontinuing my career. If anything, we should be driven to work harder when something so important as choosing to educate our children gets our decision-making abilities called into question.
Being a teacher is the most challenging and unrecognized of all professions. I make this comment as a parent who has been involved in my children’s school as a volunteer, part time worker, full time library aide, and now as instructional aide. My oldest child is 30 yrs old already and since he started 4th grade in the U.S, I have witnessed all kind of obstacles teachers face every day to educate our children. I also have seen so many ungrateful parents who think teachers are responsible for their children’s discipline and education without even realizing that parents are the child’s first teachers. If parents don’t care enough for their children to teach them respect, and solidarity toward others, why do they expect their children will receive what they don’t give to others. They will be treated the same way they treat others. By raising our children thinking that they deserve everything without having to work for it, parents are only harming their children’s future.
I was a teacher in a middle school for one year… 30 years ago. And even back then there were many politically correct restrictions on teachers that I felt tied my hands unreasonably. Today it’s worse, and I can’t imagine being in the classroom as a teacher.
However, more recently I came across an unusual method for implementing rapid change of many kinds in individuals, and I’m hopeful that an innovative superintendent somewhere might give me a chance to prove this method can do amazing things for an entire school system.
Steve – In education, we’re all about new methods. What’s the name that people could Google to learn about this?