WHY ARE SO MANY MORE TEACHERS “RETIRING”?
No, that is not me!
When I began teaching in 1970, and throughout almost all of my 38 year career in NYC and suburbs, teaching was a lifelong calling. Many, like me, started right out of college, grabbed a Master’s degree on the way to get permanent certification, and taught until retirement age or near it if an early retirement deal was created by boards trying to save labor costs.
Nationally, in 1990, 20 years into my career, the average length of service was 15 years. Of course that counted those who never were granted tenure and those who realized for a variety of good reasons, that they wanted to do something else. It also, by the way, included second career teachers who started at 40ish and worked fewer years to reach retirement age.
Now the average, as most people know is less than 5 years. This is because of a number of reasons. Short timing TFA corps members and their clones are only one reason. In general, our culture has changed. Post baby boomer generations have shown a propensity to work more jobs for fewer years in their work life than us baby boomers and the depression generation that preceded them.
But more and more a rising factor has been the degradation of the profession and WHY ARE SO MANY MORE TEACHERS “RETIRING”? | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing: