Is the teaching market really so terrible? Should I bother? (degrees, background)
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I tend to agree with this and with much of what others have said here. Question is, what does that mean for kids in future years? Eventually, to whatever degree it hasn't already happened, people are going to put low pay + uncertain job security + difficult workplace environment (defiance from students etc) together and decide they don't want a career offering all of that. Which means there will be almost nobody of any value/competence getting into teaching.
There are lawsuits against school districts stating their kids are entitled to good teachers and the district did not provide good teachers. But, what if there are no good teachers? You can't force people to become teachers. If there are no quality, competent people willing to be teachers, there is no way for any district to provide all of its students with good teachers. That seems to be lost on all the folks who want to keep coming up with new regulations etc that make teaching hell at times...
NCLB aka Race to the Top is going to deliever the type if education the system wants. TEACHERS are powerless to stop this. Those of us who try are quickly shown the door. With the drive to teach to the test, there os ZERO tolerance for supplemental knowledge.
The kids will be SCREWED--that is the only end result if we continue to accept NCLB / RTTT and embrace reformers like Michelle Rhee and believe Teach for America acually provides a service to our children.
The only change will come from the community, and until the parents are ready to take on CITIZEN'S UNITED. KOCH BROS and even BILL GATES, education will become a wasteland and PRIVATIZED schools will be erected to serve the wealthy--everyone else will be indoctrinated as drones to serve at the leisure of the power, status and wealth.
And they call me crazy? Did you ever in your life even think corporations would be called PEOPLE and have constitutional protection and SUE real people for SLANDER and other stuff?
Sure they call me crazy, but I have been in the classroom for 20 years and see the font on the whiteboard.
I'm willing to believe that all of those people and groups really do want what's best for education and kids. It's just also abundantly clear they do not have much of a grasp of what is needed. There is still the misconception that a class with behavior problems ruining lessons is always and necessarily a result of bad teaching and/or poor classroom management. While those *may* be to blame, they very frequently are not. The public doesn't get that. Many even in education don't get that. So, the root problem fails to be addressed...
I tend to agree with this and with much of what others have said here. Question is, what does that mean for kids in future years? Eventually, to whatever degree it hasn't already happened, people are going to put low pay + uncertain job security + difficult workplace environment (defiance from students etc) together and decide they don't want a career offering all of that. Which means there will be almost nobody of any value/competence getting into teaching.
There are lawsuits against school districts stating their kids are entitled to good teachers and the district did not provide good teachers. But, what if there are no good teachers? You can't force people to become teachers. If there are no quality, competent people willing to be teachers, there is no way for any district to provide all of its students with good teachers. That seems to be lost on all the folks who want to keep coming up with new regulations etc that make teaching hell at times...
Please repost this as many places as you can think of. This is one of the reasons that I've decided to withdraw my services to public education. It's going to be horrific, I think, before it all comes to a tipping point.
Thanks for the responses, everyone. I appreciate them. Maybe I'll look into education reform.
If you're going that direction, fine. Just please spend some meaningful working time in classrooms and at schools first. We have enough education reformers who haven't taught a day in their lives...
if you're going that direction, fine. Just please spend some meaningful working time in classrooms and at schools first. We have enough education reformers who haven't taught a day in their lives...
Thanks for the responses, everyone. I appreciate them. Maybe I'll look into education reform.
You need to know firsthand what it is you want to "reform".
Get a good understanding first across several schools, several grades, several socio-economic areas.
Look for the patterns of the broken system.
You need to see and understand what is broken before you can attempt to fix it.
Whether there are jobs or not, I would not suggest that anyone go into teaching today. Too much politics, too much paperwork, not enough actual teaching.
X1,000
I am on my third career, basically doing penance for my time in the federal budget.
I am old and astronomically highly qualified. I don't do 1/2 the stuff I am supposed to. No brag, but I am to good a teacher to mess with. Plus I have two pensions. I spend a great deal of time teaching, and very little time on what I am supposed to be doing.
Having said all that, teaching is a terrible profession. I actively encourage the good, young teachers to leave.
Please understand, the business world has a very low opinion of teachers, don't get tainted as being "just a teacher."
Teaching could and should be the best, most rewarding profession. There are just too many mindless people in the chain of command. Yep, "they" have really messed this up.
Sorry to be negative, but you deserve an honest response.
I wish I would have reconsidered going back to school to get my teaching license. I initially got an ECE license because that was suppose to be the new thing for teaching kindergarten but didn't find a job so I stayed in school another year to get an ESL license. Now I have been trying for 2 years to find a job and have only had 1 interview.
It also saddens me that what I see in schools. Teaching is not about the kids. It's about state assessments and politics. I wish I would have been warned so I didn't have three more years of student loans and no job!!!! So much for pursuing my passion!
I wish I would have reconsidered going back to school to get my teaching license. I initially got an ECE license because that was suppose to be the new thing for teaching kindergarten but didn't find a job so I stayed in school another year to get an ESL license. Now I have been trying for 2 years to find a job and have only had 1 interview.
It also saddens me that what I see in schools. Teaching is not about the kids. It's about state assessments and politics. I wish I would have been warned so I didn't have three more years of student loans and no job!!!! So much for pursuing my passion!
Where have you been applying? How wide are you casting your net? ESL (aka ESOL here) positions always seem to be on the vacancy list.
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