Friday, December 28, 2018

I'm Considering It

I still can't ascertain why, but I haven't been truly happy teaching for a long time.

It's not that I don't like the kids, because I do.  I don't think the Common Core math standards are the reason, but possibly many of the absolutely stupid decisions my district has made over the past several years are contributing factors.  I really think that the latter is a large part of what has stripped so much of the joy out of teaching.

I've been unemployed 3 times in life, the longest stretch for about 6 months, and I don't want to go through that again.  Thus, I'm a little gun shy about jumping ship, to mix some metaphors.  After all, this is what I've done for 21 1/2 years now, making me not the most sought after potential employee.

Others, though, are cutting the cord:
Teachers and other public education employees, such as community-college faculty, school psychologists and janitors, are quitting their jobs at the fastest rate on record, government data shows.

A tight labor market with historically low unemployment has encouraged Americans in a variety of occupations to quit their jobs at elevated rates, with the expectation they can find something better. But quitting among public educators stands out because the field is one where stability is viewed as a key perk and longevity often rewarded...

In the first 10 months of 2018, public educators quit at an average rate of 83 per 10,000 a month, according to the Labor Department. While that is still well below the rate for American workers overall—231 voluntary departures per 10,000 workers in 2018—it is the highest rate for public educators since such records began in 2001...

In the 12 months ended in October, one million workers quit public-education positions, according to the most recent Labor Department data. More than 10 million Americans work in the field.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Retired early after an administrative change. Was difficult being taken to task about a number of things by someone who had never been in a high school classroom. When the parent is ALWAYS right and there was no apparent support for the teacher it became obvious that I could take my tech skills somewhere else without the daily headaches. Loved the kids but being DIRECTED by someone who had no experience in my situation was difficult. I would make a recommendation based on my experience which was ignored and ended up costing the school over $20,000 and then I was told it was my job to rectify the situation. No apology, no discussion, no respect. It was time to go. Best decision I ever made!