Who Wants this job?

 Who wants this job?

 

Turns out not many people do want this job.  Oh, the job in question is being a teacher.  Based on research done by Brown University and the University at Albany,  who compiled and analyzed decades’ worth of national data from more than a dozen sources.   They looked at teacher morale, the perceived prestige of the profession, and entering the field itself.  They examined data from 1970 until this year, 2022.  

What they found was that the pandemic exacerbated what has been coming for a long time.  According to the research, we are at a critical tipping point in education.  

There were some depressing but key take aways.  Firstly, only 42% of educators say the stress of their job was worth the rewards.  In 1970, that number was 81%.  Oh and by the way, teachers were dramatically lower paid in those days.  So much for the present theory that we need to keep increasing teachers’ paychecks.  Interest of young people, high school seniors and college students has dropped by half.  In the past ten years the number of new people entering the profession has dropped 33%.  

The study claims the issues are lower wages, a better competitive job market, decreasing influence of teacher unions, a rise in school shootings, reform efforts by politicians, and low education funding.

Some of these identified reasons really don’t fly.  In the 70’s the starting teacher’s salary was much lower when measured against the starting salary for other new bachelor degree jobs.  In the 70’s teachers’ unions had much less influence.  In fact, in those days the unions weren’t unions at all but were called and actually were professional associations.  School shootings are very scary, but in our society so is shopping at a Walmart, praying in a house of worship or shopping in a mall.  Schools are probably a lot less dangerous than any of those places.

Maybe the real issue is that in the 70’s, teachers decided how to teach not some politician.  Parents deferred to a teacher’s judgement when it came to discipline.  Oh, and 50 years ago, teachers were not kids’ enemies who were standing in the way of learning, but rather someone who facilitated it.  Parents, society and politicians respected what teachers did and how they did it. 

Describe the job today and it’s no wonder folks don’t want it.