“I’m Mad as Hell, and I’m Not Going to Take This Anymore!” The Real Reasons Why Teachers Stay or Quit the Profession
Why do teachers stay teaching? What makes them leave?
The Alliance for Excellent Education and the New Teacher Center, heavily backed by corporations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, just came out with a report focusing on teacher preparation and sounding the age-old alarm that new teachers quit within a few years. It is costing 2.2 billion they say. And they provide some suggestions that might be worthy to examine. Things like facilities and resources and new teacher mentoring could help. The report can be found HERE.
Make no mistake, if we don’t have a crisis with teaching already, we will have one in the next few years. But it goes much deeper and further than the above nonprofit thought meisters care to admit, or it could be that they want a different kind of teacher (one who follows), or no teacher at all (technology).
One thing is for certain, they have not spoken much with real teachers. That has been a serious mistake, because as smart as these folks might be about business, you don’t get teachers to commit to reform, unless you make them a part of it. You also don’t endear them to you by blaming them in the media and constantly telling the American people they have failed, especially when they haven’t.
But teachers do have problems, and dare I say many of the problems they face, are “I’m Mad as Hell, and I’m Not Going to Take This Anymore!” The Real Reasons Why Teachers Stay or Quit the Profession: