I asked Chat GPT if it would choose teaching as a career, knowing everything it knows.
It would NOT choose teaching as a career. If you’re a teacher, would you choose it again knowing what you know now?
This is not to discourage new teachers-we love new teachers and their energy and enthusiasm is so needed right now. They infuse a much needed passion and excitement into our schools.
Teaching has some very unique challenges right now. Teachers are typically passionate about what they do, they’re intelligent and have so many skills and talents, but we are burning out at an alarming rate.
It’s not the teachers. It’s not the kids. It’s the system. It’s set up for failure. Teachers are asked to do impossible things: perform miracles, differentiate instruction for all learning styles and individualize lessons, yet students are assessed with standardized tests that take none of that into account. And teachers are accountable for those scores, all while knowing their students are so much more than those scores.
So how do we create a system that doesn’t burnout teachers, that retains our best talent? Teachers are learning that their skills are transferable and valuable and they’re leaving for their mental health, for more flexibility, and better pay. Why wouldn’t they?
When do we recognize this and start taking steps to fix it? We need excellent teachers. Our kids need them. Our future depends on them. But they’re tired of being “saviors” and expected to meet impossible standards and I don’t blame a single one for leaving. We are SOUL tired and we are losing the soul of our education system because of it.
