âIâm the quintessential great teacher,â Reddit user NopeNotMain posted recently. âPerfect scores on evaluations, teacher-of-the-year, mentor, two-decades-in sort of teacherâŠAnd Iâm quitting.â We all know that teaching is facing unprecedented challenges, with 50% of educators saying they are considering leaving. But what NopeNotMainâs thread revealed is it isnât just new teachers considering throwing in the towel. Itâs not just the folks who were on the fence anyway. Itâs also the teachers who previously would have described themselves as career educators. Who never in a million years would have imagined leavingâŠuntil the last few years.
When a teacher like me is ready to quit, things are REALLY bad.
by u/NopeNotMain in antiwork
âTeaching is an emotionally abusive, deeply problematic field that conditions educators to believe that their job REQUIRES self-sacrifice and self-harmâ
NopeNotMain minced no words in describing why theyâre leaving the field they thought theyâd be in forever. And other Redditors, also long-time teachers, were quick to agree. âHit the wall in 2017 after 19 years,â wrote seasalt-and-sequoias. âTwo national teaching awards, commercials in campaigns, mentor, home visits, blog, etc. I will never, ever go back.â
âI resigned last month after 7 yearsâŠit was like the weight of the world was lifted off immediately. Iâve left many jobs and never felt happier than after leaving teaching,â adds Disappointed-hyena.
âReady to throw a graduate degree, tenure, and experience out the window to save sanityâ
Thoughts4Bots says her husband is another former career educator whoâs ready to move on. âIâve seen my husband go from the teacher who hopped out of bed to a man who texts me midday with a countdown to number of hours left before heâs homeâŠTeaching is far from wholesome. Itâs psychological warfare. I donât know how to help other than to support him. The deck is stacked against teachers. Teachers have zero support, none.â
Reddit isnât the only place long-term teachers are looking for an out
Weâre also seeing veteran educators in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE community on Facebook say theyâre done with the job they thought they loved. âThis slow motion train wreck is starting to get to me,â wrote one teacher with decades of experience. âI canât stay hydrated if Iâm crying all the way home.â
âGave 100% of myself and got nothing in return,â adds another 18-year educator. âI have given my days and my nights for my students. I canât take it anymore.â
How did we get here?
For NopeNotMain, âit was a training we attended that asked us, exhausted, overworked, and under paid, if we were doing enough if we only had a 99% âsuccess rateâ (whatever that means). It was so tone deaf.â
Indeed, toxic positivity is a growing problem in schools, especially during the pandemic.
Other Redditors called out a number of issues that have contributed to even longtime teachers leaving the field, including low pay, hostile parents, combative students, and lack of support from admin. Stress, workload, and lack of respect are some of the other major issues that surface again and again in our WeAreTeachers community. These are big problems that are going to require big solutions. And as NopeNotMain points out, we need to fight for teachers now or else âthey may not be teachers for very much longer.â