Short version of this blog:
No. We’re not going to get back to normal. The pandemic has changed everything.
You’ve probably seen the meme: There isn’t a ‘teacher shortage.’ There is a ‘Masters-level professionals willing to work for $35,000 shortage.’
And maybe you’re thinking… yeah, no, beginning teachers make a lot more than that. Well—not so much more, if at all.
And then there’s this–In no state are teachers paid more than other college graduates. The situation has been steadily growing worse. And then all those underpaid teachers were asked to risk their lives, during two school years. Incredibly enough, nearly all of them did.
But COVID was the proverbial straw on the educational camel’s back. Teachers are getting out while the getting’s good. How many? Depends on who’s asked, and whether they can continue to work at a career that doesn’t support a middle-class CONTINUE READING: The Great (Unemployed and Underpaid) Transformation | Teacher in a strange land
