Skip to main content

Going the Distance

I just read an article about teacher turnover.  Latest statistics show that about 50% that go into the profession quit after 5 years.  Not too surprising especially given all the public perceptions and the low wages combined with the work load.  In my work with beginning teachers, I've research the attrition rate now and then and what I've found is no surprise.  The reality eventually overcomes the romantic notion that so many carry in their heads.  Add to that the ongoing corporate attack for privatization, the testing frenzy, and how those interests interpret test scores, the general lack of respect for authority figures, and there you have it.

There are those, on the contrary, who will stay no matter how difficult the conditions or how low the pay.  For a change, I'd like to consider why they stay.  I suspect that many who qualify here feel the same as I do.  My full-time tenure lasted 33 years.  I had intended to take a break about the 10 year mark but that never happened.  In fact, there were times during those three decades that going to the classroom proved to be a lifesaver.  When personal tragedies and pitfalls come calling, I found my work with students helped me escape the difficulties with relationships, family, the inconsistencies of friendships, and the general irrationality of life as an adult.
Again, I can only speak for myself, but I'd like to offer some insight into the mystery of what it takes to go the distance in the classroom.
I have always been into my subject area.  Whether it be history, psychology, literature, writing, international affairs, or journalism, much of my free time, my reading, my chosen education has to do with those topics.  I believe that students can see that.  When a teacher loves his/her subject it shows.  It also motivates.
Another factor has to do with truly liking people.  Particularly young people.  Being around teen-agers, despite their developing brains, is a heady experience.  They may be innocent but they are not jaded.  They have energy and they are idealistic and they truly believe they can do the things they want to do.  And then there is the no small matter of colleagues.  Some of mine were my best friends, for years.  Even now, when I return to my former home I see them.  I seek them out.  That kind of learning community is key to what is wrong today.
Despite the current malaise, the profession and those who enter and exit continue to remain complex issues.  Perhaps if some of the decision making power about curriculum, working conditions, and compensation were left to those who have endured despite all the difficulties, so many would not flee the profession.  See, I'm still idealistic.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

To a Tee

 I'm a sucker for a good t-shirt.  They are the foundational garment of my life.  My day starts with selecting a t-shirt and it ends with sleeping in one.  Once thought of as under garments, t-shirts are now original art and no doubt, a billion dollar business.   You can get a t-shirt with anybody's picture displayed.  You can commemorate an event, a birthday, a death, even a specular play in any sport.  Family reunions usually have a commemorative t-shirt.  Also, any organization that solicits your support in the form of a donation is likely to offer you a t-shirt. Where once I only had the basic white t-shirt, my drawers are filled with all manner of colorful choices.  Some recognize major events in my life, some, spectacular performances or plays I have witnessed, and some unforgettable places I have been.   I say I'm a sucker for a good t-shirt because I have taken the bait on what I perceived as a must-have only to be disappointed. ...

Illusory

What does it take to enrage you?  That moment when your words fly on pure emotion because enough is enough.  Is it a driver that cuts you off at high speed?  What about being an eyewitness to blatant racism or on the receiving end of some obvious injustice? I know some people who never express rage.  I admire them but know full well I am not capable of such distance from that which would bring about such a strong response. Another senseless shooting and 7 people die at the hands of a mentally ill gun owner.  The father of the 20 year old college student lets it fly and somehow millions feel a new sense of relief.  He calls the politicians bastards who do nothing, he wears his pain in public.  The news media responds but we all know that nothing is going to change.  We are the gun country.  We are the place where anybody, anytime, can be cut down just for being there when somebody else snaps. Usually the perpetrators are delusional. ...

Mr. Greene v. Mr. Brown

I want to tell you about something. Something I've carried inside myself for a number of years now. Perhaps if I were a different kind of person I wouldn't need to talk about it. I'm not. My need to tell it is stronger than your need to hear it. Because, however, there are a number of teachers and former students of mine who may read these meanderings from time to time, I need to tell this story all the more. About 7 or 8 years ago I was asked if I would allow a university PhD. candidate to observe an English class. At first I decided against it because I was scheduled to have a student teacher placed with me the second half of the semester in question. After some urging, however, at the request of a respected colleague, I agreed. Soon I was committing to extra meetings, signing documents and explaining to the class in question who the young woman who thoughtfully pounded away on a laptop in the rear of the classroom three times a week was. I knew that the topic of ...